


Fire in her eyes, Darkness in his soul

by saltycrow



Category: Vampire Diaries (TV)
Genre: 1920's, AU, Angst, Blood Lust, Dark Caroline, F/M, Feeding, Killing, Turning into a Vampire, Violence, slightly OOC
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-01-20
Updated: 2013-05-08
Packaged: 2017-11-26 05:59:11
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 14
Words: 46,464
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/647342
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/saltycrow/pseuds/saltycrow
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Caroline Forbes is a proper gal. Or at least she used to be before her friend dragged her into a speak-easy. Struggling to find her place in the world, Caroline meets Niklaus Mikaelson. A dark man with a dark secret. But he seems to be the answer to all her problems. You can only live once, or you can live for an eternity.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter One

**Author's Note:**

> Hi, this is going to be a multi-chapter fic. I have done research about the 1920's and I am trying to keep all the facts straight, but if I fail, I am more than willing to be have you correct me. I hope you will enjoy it!

Chapter One

Fire

 

Caroline Forbes is a modern gal, Caroline Forbes told her to herself as she hopped into a cab in her newly acquired dress. Or at least she liked to think she was a modern girl. The prohibition had been in place for three years now, ever since she had turned fourteen years old. She had never even tried alcohol, well not before anyway; she had been a good and proper girl. But her friends weren’t as proper as she was, or as proper as she liked to think she had been. Elena Gilbert had been her best friend from birth. And ever since Elena’s parents passed on about a year ago, Elena was left with no supervision, only her Aunt Jenna to take care of the family fortune until Jeremy and Elena could take over the assets. And to be honest, Elena’s Aunt was clueless. She was so wrapped up in her own life, her suitor Alaric Saltzman and the never ending parties to even notice that most nights Elena only came home just before dawn.

Caroline had been sucked into all this because Elena was her best friend. And when your best pal asked you something, you did it. And that was how Caroline Forbes, one of Chicago’s most valued debutantes was now sneaking out of her own home to go to _speakeasy_ with Elena and Bonnie. And this was not the first time. Far from it.

For almost a month Caroline had been going to Friar’s Inn twice a week with Elena. And that was where they had met Bonnie. She worked at Friar’s as a singer. Caroline had been mesmerized by her voice and the exiting rhythm of the bass. She had never heard jazz music before. Her father kept her in a tight leash. Caroline played the piano, but only Mozart, Bach and the other great composers were tolerated in her house. Her father considered musical talent to be very important, after all that was a virtue her suitors would appreciate.

Caroline had enjoyed her life, she really had. But that was all before. Before Elena took her to listen to the ‘devil’s music’ as her father would have called it. Her father thought _that music_ was for colored people only. Well, he had used a nastier word, but after meeting Bonnie, Caroline had made herself a promise that she would never utter the word again.

The taxi came to a halt at 60 East Van Buren. Caroline spotted Elena standing outside, waving. Caroline thought she was perfectly capable of going in by herself, but it was Elena who always had the passwords, and she didn’t like sharing them Caroline for some reason. Caroline had no idea how Elena had come by the Inn in the first place, or who gave her the ever changing passwords, but Caroline thought she might not even want to know. She was aware that all this was illegal and gangsters were ever present. Sometimes it was better not to know, even though it killed Caroline not to find out.

She was nosy, she acknowledged it, but she wanted to know, it was just her nature. When she had been younger, gossiping had been her favorite sport, but as she got older, she learned to control herself. Gossiping didn’t usually do you any good. Caroline had learned that sometimes it was better to keep your mouth shut.

They had gone in an hour ago. Caroline loved the music and she loved dancing, but at a place like this, she wanted to be cautious. You never knew who was a hard core criminal and who wasn’t. Caroline wasn’t as naïve as her friends thought. She knew what could happen for a girl who was too careless. Usually the girls stuck together, but Elena had met someone, and she was dancing with him now, and Bonnie had just gotten on stage a half an hour ago. Caroline didn’t mind sitting alone, if she would indeed be left alone. But she was a young girl, and she wasn’t exactly ugly. Caroline always kept her glass full so that she would have an excuse to turn down the drink offers she fairly often got.

Caroline watched Elena dancing and laughing to the exhilarating beat. She sighed as she watched her friend so utterly happy. She was glad for her, she was. Elena had gone through a lot and she deserved this. But still, she was only human and could not help but to feel a little jealous. Whenever she went somewhere with Elena, Caroline was utterly ignored. Elena was always the center of attention. Caroline told herself that she didn’t mind, but the truth was, she did mind.

“Is this seat free?” A handsome young man with dark hair asked her. It was nothing out of ordinary. Whenever Caroline was left alone, it usually took only fifteen minutes for the perverts to come and try to seduce her. Usually they were older and uglier than this man, but she didn’t trust any of them. Occasionally she allowed herself to dance with the handsome ones, but tonight she was not in the mood. Elena had left her on her own so soon, and she was a little bit mad. Tonight she just wanted to enjoy the music.

“My friends will be back any minute now,” Caroline answered, but the man took a seat anyway.

“I’ll give up my seat when they arrive, then,” he said with a smile. It was meant to make her trust him, but it did the exact opposite. 

“Please, my friends will be back any moment now,” Caroline tried to dismiss him, but he wasn’t taking the hint.

“Oh come on, doll. I can show you a good time.” His eyebrows rose suggestively. Caroline rolled her eyes at him. 

“Please leave, I would like to be alone,” she hissed with determination. He let out a condescending laugh. It made Caroline see red. How dare any man laugh at her in such a manner. 

“Come on now, doll.” He grabbed her hand. 

“Do not call me doll. I am not an object, I am a woman,” Caroline hissed through her teeth and grabbed her glass, ready to smash it against his head any moment now. But she did not get the opportunity.

“You better do as the lady commands,” a soft voice said. The voice belonged to a very handsome man with fair hair. For a moment Caroline was struck silent by his good looks. The blonde man stepped closer to the asshole and grabbed the hand that had been squeezing Caroline’s. 

“I can manage this, I do not need help, thank you very much,” Caroline muttered after she recovered. The blonde man looked at her with an amused grin. 

“By all means, handle him yourself,” the man said with the most delicious British accent Caroline had ever heard. Well, to be fair, she had not heard that many people speaking with the accent. He sat down by the table, his smirk not fading from his lips.

The dark haired man looked at Caroline and then at the other man, looking very confused. 

“I think I’m going to go…” he mumbled and left as quickly as he could. Caroline harrumphed and crossed her arms. 

“I was handling it, thank you very much.” He kept on smiling, and it irritated Caroline beyond belief.  

“Sure you were, love.” Caroline stared into his grey eyes with annoyance. 

“I am not your love. And I am a grown woman, I can handle myself.” He nodded, and did not look as amused as he had before. 

“Let me guess, you are a feminist?” 

“What of it?” She asked with a challenging tone. Caroline had been a secret supporter of the suffragettes. Her father would not allow her to be on the streets demanding the right to vote, of course, but she stood by their cause one hundred per cent. And she believed that it should not end there. Even after women had gained the right to vote, she was supposed to get her education and marry a respectable man. That was not what Caroline wanted. She wanted her life to be more than being the dutiful wife and mother. Why could she not be an engineer? She worked hard and she deserved all the same rights as men did. She was no less important than a man. She was smart. Smarted than many men. 

“Nothing, sweetheart. My sister took a very active role in the suffragette movement, to be honest with you.” His tone was sweeter now and he had a smile on his face that Caroline deemed to be a genuine one. Caroline nodded in surprise. Usually when men found out about her opinions, they laughed at her, not even trying to hide it. 

“Would you care to dance, love?” he asked, apparently not nice enough to respect her wish not to be called ‘love’. She was no one’s ‘love’. 

“I’d rather not, sweetheart,” she said with mockery. He smiled at her brightly and laughed. 

“I like you.”

“I do not really care for you.” Caroline informed him, making him only laugh more. 

“You got moxie, love. I give you that.”

“I am so honored, _sir_ ,” she said, her voice think with sarcasm. 

“Very well, I think we will leave the dancing for later.” 

“I don’t think so, stranger,” Caroline subtly reminding him that they had just met and were not likely to meat ever again. 

“I am so sorry, how rude of me not to introduce myself. My name is Niklaus. But you may call me Nik.” Now she had a name to attach to the handsome face, but what of it? She was never going to see him again. 

“It was very _interesting_ meeting you, Nik. But I am afraid my friend is ready to leave,” Caroline said, spotting Elena near the exit, waving at her. 

“But you did not even give me your name.” Caroline smiled at him wickedly. 

“You didn’t seem to have a problem calling me other names, so I guess you don’t really need it, Nik. Have a good life.” And with that she took her exit, leaving a very stunned Niklaus sitting in his seat. The girl got fire, he thought. But vampires were a predatory species. And no one enjoyed the hunt more than Niklaus Mikaelson. 


	2. Chapter 2

 

Darkness

“Nik!” Rebekah yelled as she walked into his apartment, completely uninvited, mind you. Klaus lifted his face from the neck of a lovely brunette and looked at his sister with irritation.

“You could learn to knock, Bekah.”

“Well, you should learn to lock your door. Wipe your face; don’t you have any table manners?” She asked and sat herself down on his couch without an invite. Klaus did not say a word, just pressed his mouth against the girls neck, draining every last drop of her blood. He let her body fall to the floor. That could be taken care later. 

“What brings you to me, my dear sister?” He asked, finally wiping his face clean of the blood. She had been truly exquisite, he thought as he licked his fingers for the last drops of her blood.

“I just thought you would like to know that our brother is back in town,” Rebekah informed as she poured herself a glass of whiskey. Klaus furrowed his brow. This would not be good.

“Which one?” 

“Kol. Last I heard, Elijah was still roaming around Europe.” Klaus sighed and poured himself a drink as well.

“That is what you get for un-daggering him, sister.” Rebekah just rolled her eyes at him.

“He had been lying in that coffin since the 1700s, I felt bad for him.” Now it was Klaus’ turn to roll his eyes. 

“You do remember why we daggered him in the first place, don’t you?” Kol had been causing too much trouble. Drawing attention to himself. And Mikael was more than happy to be following the trail of bodies Kol had left behind. He had his trademark, and it was easy to find him. Too easy.

“Yes, I remember, but he deserved to have some fun. It wasn’t fair to keep him daggered down in a coffin in your storage, Nik.”

“Well, why don’t you just go pull the dagger out of Finn’s chest too?” he asked, his voice full of venom. Klaus liked it here in Chicago. Music, girls, bodies to drain. And no one noticed the occasional girls who went missing. The gangsters were in charge, and girls went missing all the time. It was nothing that would draw attention to him. But Kol would. 

“Oh come on, Nik. We all know that Finn is a real danger. With all those suicidal thoughts. Plus, he’s a terrible bore.” Klaus just shook his head. He was already dreading the moment Kol would come knocking on his door. It was time to start planning how to dagger him all over again. Klaus needed to keep his family alive, and as long as Mikael was still following them and trying to kill them all, Kol would be safer lying in a coffin. 

“You let me know when he shows up,” Klaus informed Rebekah as he started tying his tie. 

“Sure. Where are you going? Can I come with?”

“I am going to Friar’s. With Stefan. You aren’t welcome.” 

“Oh come on, Nik! He’s completely head over heels for me. Please, Nik. Please!” He sighed and shook his head. He rarely could deny his sister anything.

“Fine.” 

“Thank you!”

Stefan turned up on his door fifteen minutes later, smirking as he saw Rebekah all dressed up. 

“I didn’t know you were coming, Rebekah.” She smiled coyly, making Klaus laugh in disbelief. Rebekah was far from an innocent, coy girl.

Stefan had proved to be good company, but Klaus was a little irritated that Rebekah had to have a crush on him. Klaus was not good at sharing. Not at all. He had met Stefan about three months ago. And he knew he should be avoiding him. The Ripper of Monterrey, he was called. Klaus was very much aware how much attention Stefan’s feeding habits were drawing, but he could not turn down his company. Klaus very much liked his company. He was amusing and an original character. And Klaus knew how hard it was to find someone like him. During the last nine hundred years of his existence he had met someone like him only twice. And Mikael would not know Stefan was with Klaus.   
“So, why are we going to Friar’s, again?” Stefan asked as he hailed a cab.

“No reason,” he said and Stefan left it there. He had learned not to question him. But the truth was, he had been looking for a certain blonde girl he had met a week ago. He had not seen her since, but he had a hunch that she went there often. Truth be told, he had no idea why he had even noticed her. Yes, she was beautiful, but not the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. But when he sat down with her, it was that fire in her eyes that kept him sitting there. Normally he would just have dragged the girl to the restrooms and drain her body. But this girl did not want to hear his charming comments. She was not charmed by his accent. She stood up to herself and somehow Klaus felt like he could not turn away. Of course he was planning on draining her at some point, but for now, he wanted to play. Klaus enjoyed the chase, but he usually didn’t stay in the same place for long enough to do it often, and also, he rarely found a girl he deemed worth chasing.

He could already imagine the sweet taste of her on his lips. He smiled as they neared the speakeasy. Perhaps he would find his mystery girl. Perhaps he would even learn her name. This was going to be so sweet. He wanted to play. To make her see all of his darkness. He would not even compel her to not to be afraid, like he usually did. He needed this. Most of the time he handled his feeding fairly discreetly. He even left about 75 per cent of his victims alive. He would do anything to avoid Mikael. But he wanted her. Klaus wanted to feed from her many times before finally killing her, seeing the fire behind her eyes turn off. Only if he could find her…

Stefan paid for the cab and led Rebekah inside the Inn. Klaus trailed behind them, not particularly keen on seeing his sister drooling all over Stefan. The downside of being a vampire was that you could literally hear everything. And humans had such poor hearing. Going to a place like this could be very exhausting if you did not know how to control it. Klaus could hear the music coming from the inside, people talking and ah… That was her voice. He could hear her clearly. This was his lucky night. If you didn’t count his annoying sister tagging along. He was going to have so much fun tonight.

As they entered, Klaus searched for her immediately, and spotted her near the dance floor with that brunette friend of hers that he had seen her leaving with a week earlier. He pondered what he should do next. Approach her right away, or let her drink a few drinks and relax a bit. But Niklaus Mikaelson was not the most patient man in the world. That would be his brother Elijah. Still chasing his ‘one true love’ across Europe. Klaus snatched a glass of bourbon from the waiter, drank it and headed towards the women.

 

“No Elena, I really don’t want your pity. I can find a man on my own. I don’t need you to set me up with one of Matt’s friends. Do you even know this Tyler? I didn’t think so either. So thank you, but no thank you.” Klaus listened her argue with her friend, Elena. 

“Come on, every girl has a boyfriend these days!” Klaus studied the blonde girls face when Elena said this. She was mad.

“No, Elena. Not everybody needs a boyfriend. You have known this Matt person for less than two months. You are putting yourself in danger, and I would be putting myself in danger if I were to take you up on your offer. Don’t you know the world isn’t safe? Especially if you’re a woman.” Elena just shook her head. It appeared as they had gone through the subject before. As Klaus looked at the two women, he saw his usual victim in Elena. She was careless, trusting, and just wanted to have fun. Now, there was nothing wrong with that, he actually enjoyed the women who liked to let loose. But considering he was a predator, she would be all too easy to kill. Charm her, convince her to go outside with him, and then she would be dead. Or at least he would have taken blood from her. He couldn’t afford killing everyone he fed from. He would have loved to, but he couldn’t. But the blonde one on the other hand… She was suspicious. She wouldn’t have left with him; he would have had to compel her. And that was why she made the perfect candidate for his prey.

“Fine, but just have fun today, okay? It’s Bonnie’s day of. Just dance with someone, then we can all drink together and laugh at the desperate men who we danced with and who thought we would be going home with them. Please?” The blonde stared at her friend, but finally smiled at her.

“And then we all go to your house, right?” Elena nodded and hugged her friend. “Just have fun, Care. I love you and I just want you to be happy, you know that right?” The blonde girl nodded and hugged her back tightly. Klaus had never been one to show affection, and he found the scene that was unraveling before him quite odd. He waited for the hug to end. It made him uncomfortable for some reason.

The girls let go of each other, but Elena’s hand remained on her friend’s shoulder. 

“I know you have been through a lot, Elena. But you have always been here for me, and I think I have not shown that to you nearly as often as I should,” the girl mumbled. Elena merely smiled at her and squeezed her hand. Now was his time. 

“Ah, we meet again,” he said as he reached the girls. Elena looked up to him with curiosity, and he couldn’t help but to notice the flicker of jealousy and disappointment in her eyes as she realized that he was talking to her friend instead. The blonde looked at him with a different expression, but he found himself unable to read her. Odd.

“It would appear so,” she said shortly. Elena eyed at her and nudged her with her elbow.

“How rude of me. My name is Niklaus Mikaelson. You can call me Klaus.” The brunette offered her hand and told him that she was Elena Gilbert. But the blonde girl he had only heard to be called ‘Care’ frowned. 

“When did you two meet?” Elena asked.

“We met a week ago. A rude fellow was bothering your friend. I thought I would help her out, but she was most ungrateful of my help. Wouldn’t even reveal her name to me,” Klaus said and smiled at the blonde as he said it. She lifted her brow at him, making Klaus almost laugh. What an odd feeling.

“How rude of you! The least you can do is give the poor bloke your name!” Elena gushed. Her friend did not seem happy, at all.

“Fine. I’m Caroline Forbes. Happy now?” Caroline… He liked the name. It suited her. 

“Very happy. But I would be even happier if you would dance with me.” Caroline was silently eyeing him. 

“Of course she will dance with you! This is one of her favorite songs. Come find me if you need me. If not, we’ll meet by the door.” And with that she was gone, leaving Klaus and Caroline standing alone. He offered his hand, which she took, after a moment of hesitation. Klaus whirled her to the dance floor. He decided that it would be best if she initiated the conversation, so he only focused on dancing, for now. The song was half way through when she finally decided to speak. 

“You are a very good dancer, Nik. Or should I call you Klaus?” He let out a small laugh. He hadn’t even realized that he had told her his name was Nik. He went by Klaus. Only his family called him Nik. Well, it didn’t really matter. After a short time there would be the exactly same amount of people calling him Nik as there had been nine hundred years ago. 

“You can call me whatever you want, love.” He said and twirled Caroline around. 

“Would it be too much to ask you to use my given name?”

“Yes.” Caroline looked at him, but instead of irritation he saw an amused smile. 

“You really are a good dancer, _Nik_ , I’ll give you that.” Klaus smiled and pulled her closer to him. She smelled divine. He had such a terrible urge to sink his fangs into that perfect white skin in her neck and taste the sweetness of her blood.  But before he even had time to try and resist the urge, the song ended and he led Caroline to a table.  
“You know what they say about men who are good dancers, sweetheart.”

“No, I really don’t know what they say about men who are good dancers.” Caroline said and ordered a glass of wine from the waiter.

“You might just find out,” Klaus said before even thinking what he was saying. Having sex with her hadn’t really been part of his original plan for Caroline, but now that he was so close to her, he had the urge to lay her down on his bed and show her what he could offer to her. He shook the thought out of his mind. 

“You are not from around here,” Caroline said sipping her wine. 

“How very observant of you, darling. I am indeed not from around here.” Caroline rolled her eyes at his smart-ass answer. 

“Fine, from now on I will not try to be polite with you anymore.” 

“But you weren’t that polite to me to begin with, now weren’t you, Caroline?” Caroline stared at his eyes and he stared right back at the beautiful blue eyes. She was truly exquisite. 

“You are very annoying, has anyone ever told you that?” 

“Yes, my sister has the need to remind me of that on daily basis. But most women love me. You are the only one who seems to have complaints.” 

“I am not most women.” 

“No, you certainly are not like most women.” Caroline held his gaze. He could not read the emotion behind those eyes, but he took it as a good sign that she was still sitting here. 

“Oh my god, get me out of here, Care!” he heard a female voice call at Caroline. He saw a dark woman right next to him. He recognized her as one of the singers. Caroline laughed at her. 

“That bad, huh?”

“Jamie is terribly boring. We need to leave; he’s going to notice that I didn’t go to the rest room anytime now.” 

“You sure know how to pic them, Bonnie.” Caroline said, making Bonnie groan. Bonnie’s eyes moved from her friend to Klaus.

“And who might you be?” she said with a smile. Like a proper gentleman he was, he stood up and offered her his hand.

“Hello, I’m Klaus,” he said and as soon as her hand touched his, her expression turned from relaxed into a one filled with horror. Klaus’ heart sank. Why did Caroline had to have a friend who was also a witch. All his plans about the hunt were now officially ruined. Great. 


	3. Chapter 3

Chapter Three

Fuel for the Fire

“Caroline, grab Elena, get a cab and wait for me.” Caroline was just about to protest to Bonnie’s odd change of heart, but she gave her a serious look and Caroline decided to obey. She collected her purse, looked at Nik for the final time and headed to the door.

It took Bonnie only a few minutes to come back.   
“What happened? Why did we have to leave so quickly? You were completely fine until you shook hands with Nik,” Caroline asked, a bit annoyed. Yes, Nik had been very annoying, but Caroline had actually started to enjoy his company. There was something about him that she was drawn to. He annoyed her, but he did not make fun of her. Caroline knew she was being irrational, but she was attracted to him. And she could not help herself. He was so handsome, and the way he danced… Caroline had had crushes before, but never had she felt this sort of need to be close to them before. When they danced Caroline just wanted to close the gap between her and him and kiss him. Caroline blushed just thinking about it. This was not the way she had been raised. She should be thinking about the men her father had carefully picked out as her prospective husbands. But she was sick and tired of others telling her what to do. Nik seemed… dangerous.

“Can we talk about this when we get to Elena’s? I rather not talk about this in here,” Bonnie said and looked at the cabbie. Caroline was not known for her patience. She scoffed and turned to look out of the window. She shivered as she remembered his hand on hers, on the small of her back and his voice when he told her she definitely was not like most women. Caroline sighed. She was getting way ahead of herself. He probably wasn’t even interested in her.

The girls got out of the cab and Caroline could not get in soon enough. She needed an explanation. She had actually started to enjoy Nik’s company and not just his looks, and then Bonnie started acting all weird and telling her to leave.

“Okay, spill,” Caroline ordered as she shed her coat on the sofa and sat down. Bonnie sighed. Elena sat next to Caroline, but Bonnie stayed on her feet.   
“Remember when I told you that I was a witch?”

“Yes, and Elena and I laughed and had our fourth glass of champagne.” Bonnie had told them she was a witch about two weeks ago. Caroline was not superstitious and had brushed it off as Bonnie being drunk.

“Well, it’s true.” Caroline and Elena looked at Bonnie with matching expression of doubt.

“This is the 20th century, Bonnie. Look, the lamp is lit because of electricity. A few decades back and we might have claimed it to be magic, but it can all be explained with science.” Elena said and switched the table lamp on and off to prove her words. Caroline nodded in agreement. Bonnie had truly gone mad.

“I know it is hard to believe, so I am just going to show you, okay?” Caroline and Elena just stared at her. “No one else is here, right?” Elena confirmed this, making Bonnie to grab a nice decorative pillow from an armchair. She searcher her purse and for some reason was holding a knife. She punched the knife in, making Caroline and Elena protest to her weird behavior, but Bonnie just ignored them and let the feathers in the pillow fall down on the floor. Bonnie lifted her hands above the feathers and closed her eyes. Nothing happened for a while, but suddenly, the feathers were no longer on the floor, but flying around the room. Caroline let out a scream and Elena just stared at her friend.

“Oh dear god, our friend is witch,” Caroline muttered as she watched Bonnie flying the feathers around the room and laughing at their dumbstruck expressions.

“I still feel like I’m dreaming.” Elena nodded in agreement and caught a feather, trying to make sense of all this. Only a few short seconds away they had lived their lives, not believing in anything supernatural. And Caroline still wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t seen it with her own two eyes.  Caroline had read books and fairytales where magic was real, never believing in it, but wanting it to be true. And now she found out it was… It was too amazing to be true.

“But how is this possible?” Caroline whispered, watching the feathers floating in the air. It was truly mesmerizing. Bonnie let her hands fall to her sides, the feathers dropping on to the floor, motionless.

“I was born with it. It runs in my family. I haven’t been practicing for long, but my Gramps says that I am quite powerful. But that’s not what I wanted to talk now. I just needed you to see that so you would believe my warning,” Bonnie said and took a seat.

“What do you mean? This witch thing is so interesting, I want to know more!” Elena demanded.

“It’s about Klaus, or Nik, or whatever you call him.” Bonnie’s gaze fell to Caroline. This was not going to be good.  “He is a vampire, Caroline. You need to stay away from him.” Caroline stared at her friend. She didn’t know how long she stared at Bonnie. But she could not move, could not say anything. This was just starting to be too ridiculous. Nik couldn’t be a vampire. He just couldn’t. Caroline liked him. She wouldn’t like him if he was a vampire, right?

“I can’t believe you. How would you know that?”

“As a witch I can feel it. When he offered his hand and I took it, it became very clear to me. And I am sure he knows I am a witch. You need to stay away from him, Caroline. Vampires are very dangerous. He might claim that he is in control of the thirst, but there is not a single vampire in existence that would not have killed someone. It is in their nature. They lust for blood. They enjoy killing.” Caroline shook her head, she could not believe this. She rested her head to her knees. She believed Bonnie. Why did this have to happen to her? But of course no one nice would be interested in her. He wanted her blood, not her.

“I can’t believe this…” Caroline murmured as she felt Elena’s hand stroking her back soothingly.

“I know all this is extremely hard to take in. But I know you will come back to the Inn and I needed you to know. You need to be safe. He might come back. If he is stupid, or really strong. I am a witch and therefore I have an advantage. I can immobilize him, and usually vampires respect witches and steer clear of us. Now that you know, it will be easier for you to avoid him. Also, I’m going to give you necklaces. They will be filled with vervain. It’s poison for vampires. They can’t compel you.”

At that point Caroline and Elena looked at Bonnie with puzzled expression. Bonnie sighed and stared explaining everything there was to know about vampires. They could live forever, but you could kill them, with a stake to the heart, or with fire. They couldn’t walk during daylight, but a witch could make a spell that would allow it, so you wouldn’t be safe even during the day. They drank blood, but they functioned much like humans. They ate, slept and they had a beating heart. But they were stronger, faster and more powerful. Bonnie talked about the blood lust and the ability to turn off their humanity. That was what made them so deadly. If they turned it off, they would feel no guilt, no remorse.

Bonnie, Elena and Caroline stayed up long into the morning. Elena and Caroline wanted to know everything there was to know about the supernatural world, and oh boy, there was a lot to find out. Finally, at four in the morning, the girls were in their beds. The Gilbert’s had plenty of quest rooms and tonight, Caroline wanted to be alone with her thoughts.

She had read vampire novels. Her father of course would never approve, so she did it in secret. Elena’s aunt Jenna shared her passion and she smuggled her copies to Caroline. The novels made her blush, but she savored every one of them. She couldn’t get enough. She knew it was silly, but it had been her escape from the reality. The reality was never better than the novels; she had learned that a long time ago.

She had pondered why she had always been so drawn to fantasy, and only recently she had figured it out. It was the power. Naturally, vampires were bad and sinful, but they were powerful. And Caroline yearned to be someone other than her fragile human self. A vampire would never be made fun of, never hit, never abused. If she was a vampire, she would be free. Free to do whatever she wanted. And she longed for that freedom.

She wanted her life to be unpredictable. Because right now, Caroline could see how her life would go on. In a couple of years she would be married to some boring businessman who didn’t care what she thought, but about how she looked and how well she could cook. She would have children and she would stay home and take care of them. She would be forever trapped. She had no future other than being a mother and a wife.

A shiver ran through Caroline’s body as she thought about her inevitable fate. She hadn’t seen a way out before. But right now, she couldn’t help but think she had hope. If supernatural beings existed, then surely Caroline could be more than a wife?

 

***

 

Three days passed by before Bonnie allowed Caroline and Elena back to the Inn. The past three days had been agony for Caroline. She couldn’t get supernatural beings and Nik out of her head, no matter how hard she tried. She was fixated.  Caroline was secretly hoping she would see Nik. He was the only vampire she knew. And she was intrigued. Caroline touched her new necklace, it was beautiful and Caroline was happy to wear it, but it seemed odd that such a delicate thing could keep her safe.

“Are you all right?” Elena asked Caroline when they were inside the Inn. Caroline nodded and shifted her gaze so she could see what Elena was looking at. It was Matt, her new boyfriend, or something. Caroline was in for another lonely night. But for the first time, she really did not mind.

“Just go, I’ll be alright.” Elena smiled at her and left her standing alone. Caroline sighed and ordered a vodka tonic and sat down to an empty table. She was already on her second drink when he appeared.

“I did think I would see you here again,” Nik said and sat down. He was as handsome as ever. He was no less attractive to Caroline now that she knew what he was. Perhaps he was even more attractive.

“I can’t stay home forever, now can I?” she asked, more bravely than she usually did. Vodka does that to people. Nik smiled at her.

“But you know what I am, and you are still here. Aren’t you scared, love?” Caroline shook her head. She felt safe. It was completely stupid to feel that, but she couldn’t help her feelings.

“Bonnie is watching.” She simply offered as explanation and touched her necklace.

“And you have that pretty necklace. But didn’t Bonnie tell you that it is better if you ingest it? Because otherwise, it is of no use, darling.” Nik said with a smirk, holding her necklace. She gasped and touched her neck, only to find it bare. She hadn’t seen a thing. Caroline tried to wrap her head around on just how fast he really was.

“Give it back, please,” Caroline demanded with a stern voice.

“Only if you agree to dance with me,” Nik muttered and held out his hand. She took it, without hesitation. Suddenly she turned her around and she could feel his chest against her back. Her heart went wild when he leaned in to put the necklace back around her neck. She could feel his breath against her ear. She shivered.

“You shouldn’t have come, love,” he whispered into her ear before he spun her around and steered her into the dance floor.

“I couldn’t stay away.” She admitted, shocked that she had actually said that. She had been almost too shy to admit it to even herself, but it was the truth. She looked up at Nik’s face and noticed him frowning.

“You shouldn’t say that. You should be afraid,” he said, his voice low and dangerous. But she couldn’t bring herself to fear him.

“But I am not afraid.” Nik shook his head as he spun her around.

“Why?” Caroline couldn’t give him an answer. She had thought about it, but it was too hard to admit it, even to herself. Even thinking about it made her feel like she would be turning her back to everything.

“Why aren’t you afraid, Caroline?” Nik demanded. She couldn’t face him.

“Caroline, tell me that you do not want to be a vampire.” Caroline couldn’t manage to get a word out. How did he know? She hadn’t said a word.

“I don’t want to stay human, either,” she whispered. The song kept playing, but Nik stopped. He muttered something under his breath, but it was to quite for her to hear. He didn’t let go of him but he wouldn’t look at her.

“You have no idea who I am, Caroline. You have no idea what I am capable of,” he growled. Caroline swallowed and took a step back. He looked… dangerous. Suddenly he was moving, dragging her along. Caroline wanted to shout but nothing came out of her mouth. She tried to search for Bonnie, but they were moving so fast that she could not focus her gaze. What had she gotten herself into?

“You want to be a vampire? Well, let me demonstrate what vampires do,” he hissed and grabbed another girl near the back exit, but still not letting go of Caroline. She tried to struggle, tried to get out, but his grip was impossible to shake.

“You will come with me, and you won’t make a sound,” Nik said to the girl, who just nodded and followed Nik and Caroline out. So this was compulsion… Caroline was scared. She wanted to go back in time and change everything. She wanted to never go to the Inn and never meet the man that was now gripping her so hard that it hurt. She had tears in her eyes, but she tried to will them away.

“Look at me, Caroline. Look!” Nik yelled, making Caroline back against the tile wall. She let out a whimper, but looked at him as he commanded. He moved his eyes from Caroline to the beautiful black haired girl, who just stood there, not making a sound. In an instant, Nik’s face shifted. It was no longer the beautiful face she had been so attracted to. He had dark veins below his eyes and his eyes were red. He opened his mouth, revealing a pair of deadly fangs. He was a predator, Caroline could see that now.  He leaned in to the girl and pierced her skin. Caroline let out a cry, but it was so weak she doubted anyone would be able to hear it. She sunk against the wall, nausea trying to take over. His face was buried in her neck for what felt like an eternity. Finally he lifted his head and looked at Caroline straight in the eye. The girl had gone limp. Caroline realized that she was dead. _Dead._

Blood was dripping down his jaw. He let the girl fall to the ground. He didn’t move, just watched Caroline and her terror filled face.

“You are monster!” She shouted, finally finding her voice. The tears she had willed to keep at bay were now running down her cheeks. He never took his eyes off her.

“I never claimed otherwise.” He said and wiped the blood off his face. “Now, run. Run before I catch you.” And run she did. 


	4. Chapter 4

I stayed in the Darkness with you

 

Caroline ran. She ran for three blocks until she realized it was not safe to be running in the streets alone. She hailed a cab and got home. It felt like she was paralyzed. She couldn’t move for a week. She stayed in bed and the horrible scene of _him_ draining the life out of the poor girl wouldn’t leave her. Not for a second. Elena came by with Bonnie. Caroline’s father was out of town, so no one would mind Bonnie’s presence. Caroline’s mother was like a ghost. She was not present, even if she was right there.

Caroline told her friends everything. Well, not everything. She left out the part where she had actually wanted to end her human life. She could only imagine their faces of disapproval. She could not face that.

It took roughly around a week to get Caroline out of bed again. But she refused to go back to the Inn. She couldn’t even think about seeing him again. Bonnie and Elena agreed, and they ended up going to another speakeasy. Caroline didn’t really want to go. All she wanted to do was lie in her bed and try to forget.

But she couldn’t forget. She would wake up in the middle of the night, she would see his face covered in blood. _A monster._ A monster she had wanted to become. No matter how hard Bonnie had tried to convince her that vampires were bad, she could not hear it. Caroline needed an escape plan. And becoming a vampire seemed so perfect. She was sure that she could control the blood lust. Not all men were killers, surely that applied to vampires as well.

But after what she had seen, she felt sick. The vision of him taking her life… It wouldn’t leave her. And even after all that, Caroline couldn’t see another way out. She needed a way out. She wanted to be stronger, faster, and more powerful. Seeing him in his true form shocked Caroline. The worst thing was, even after all that, she couldn’t stop thinking about it. Becoming a vampire. Caroline tried to tell her self that it was wrong, sick and twisted. Yet, she couldn’t make herself believe it. A part of her was convinced that she wouldn’t be like him, that she could be better. She needed to get the disturbing thoughts out of her head, so she went out with her friends, only to leave early.

She couldn’t fake her happiness as well as she had thought. She didn’t want to dance, listen to music and laugh. It felt wrong. The girl whose life he had taken wouldn’t ever be able to do that again. And it was only because of her, he had wanted to prove a point, to _her._

A single tear left her eye as she neared her house. Caroline didn’t really know who she was crying for. For the nameless dead girl, or for herself. Her plan was ruined. There was no way out. She wiped her tears as she paid the cabbie and stepped out into the dark street. Caroline didn’t really worry about sneaking in. They had only a little staff, and her mother wouldn’t even notice if a bomb dropped on the house. As long as her father was away on his long business trips, she was fine.

Caroline opened the door, finding the house completely dark and quiet. She sighed and switched the lights on.

“Where have you been, Caroline?” A voice asked behind her. She turned around to face her father. All color escaped from her. This was not happening; he was supposed to be out of town. Caroline had trouble keeping her breathing normal.

“Why do you come home at this hour?” he demanded, his voice quiet, yet so threatening.

“I was out, with Elena,” Caroline managed to get out. Her father came closer to her. She tried her best not to take a step back. He leaned to her and sniffed.

“Then why do you smell like alcohol? Did you go to a speakeasy, Caroline?” His voice was still sweet, but Caroline knew what was to come. She was shaking. The tears were coming back, but she forced them to stay at bay.

“Yes, father,” she whispered, and waited for it to begin.

“Are you a whore, Caroline?” Caroline did not lift her gaze. She couldn’t.

“No, daddy.”

“Then, why are you acting like one?” he finally yelled. She closed her eyes. Waiting for it. Dreading it. The first punch went for her stomach. She let out a cry and clutched her middle. She tried not to cry, it would only make it worse. She fell on the floor as his fist hit her again, this time it was her throat. She couldn’t breathe, she felt like she was suffocating. Caroline kept gasping for air, but nothing seemed to get to her lungs.

“If you act like a whore, then you will be treated as one, Caroline,” he breathed as a third blow hit her body. Caroline stayed in the ground, trying to protect her head. She had no concept of time. It felt like it was going on forever, the unbearable pain never leaving her. He kicked her wherever he could. After every single one, Caroline prayed to a god she did not believe in. Prayed that no bones would be broken, that all her organs would be fine, that she would still get to live.

“Daddy, please don’t do this…” she whispered, trying to move away from his assault.

“How else am I going to punish you?” He gave her one final kick. “Clean yourself up. And never disappoint me again.” Caroline was left on the floor. She heard his footsteps disappearing upstairs. The tears were running wild on her face. She felt every kick, every hit. For a long while she couldn’t move because of the pain. She lay there, trying to think what to do. She felt so powerless, so weak. She felt sick. But this was her life. Caroline bit onto her tongue just to stop her from screaming. She had nowhere to go.

But she got up. She felt the pain shot through her body every time she moved. She bit her lip and carried on. She didn’t feel like staying here. The thought of seeing her father again sent shivers down her spine. He was supposed to be away, Caroline thought bitterly as she got into a cab for the third time that night.

She didn’t even realize what address she had given to the cabbie before he pulled up at the Inn. Caroline hopped out, perfectly aware that she didn’t have the password, but she walked to the door anyway. She didn’t know where else to go. She couldn’t go to the Gilbert’s. Elena and Bonnie were probably still out. It was only one am after all. And honestly, she didn’t want them to see her like this. It was bad enough to have to go through it, but she couldn’t handle her friends’ pity on top of that.

“Hey, Caroline! What are you doing here?” Jeremy Gilbert called her as she neared the door. He was outside smoking with some of his friends.

“Oh hi, Jer. I just needed a drink. But Elena always gets us in…”

“I’ll get you in,” Jeremy offered and dropped his cigarette. He led Caroline in and put his hand on her shoulder. Caroline was grateful for his support. He was the only one who knew.

“Please take care of yourself, Care. You know you are always welcome to come and stay with us.” Caroline nodded and hugged him. He was like a brother to her. He took care of her when no one else would.

“Thank you, Jer. You’re the best.” Jeremy smiled sadly as Caroline left him by the door and headed to the bar.

Caroline ordered whiskey. She ordered another one. And a third. That was when he showed up. Maybe she had wanted to bump into him. Maybe she had come seeking him. It made no sense, but Caroline could not think of another explanation for her being here again, even after everything.

“I didn’t think I would ever see you again.” He said as he sat on the stool next to her. Caroline didn’t lift her gaze, but she felt his on her. Somehow, she felt safe. It was ridiculous, but she did.

“Honestly, I didn’t think I would see you either.”

“Then why did you come here? I thought we established that I am a monster and you are a vulnerable human, a possible food source.” Caroline finally met his beautiful grey eyes. He was truly mesmerizing. When she lifted her head his eyes fell on her throat. She realized the already forming bruise too late. She slapped her hand against her throat, but he had already seen it. He frowned, and something that Caroline thought might have been anger flashed across his face.

“Who did this to you?” he growled. Caroline shook her head and drank the rest of the whiskey in her glass. He grabbed her arm, only to let go after she flinched away. He took her arm again, but this time more carefully. Caroline thought about yanking it back, but it would hurt.

He peeled her sleeve up, only to reveal the already purplish bruise. Nik took a while examining it and took a few deep breaths as to calm himself down.

“Who was it, love?” He asked, this time more gently. She met his eyes. He looked sad.

“It was my father,” she whispered and turned her eyes away from his. She didn’t want to talk about it. She could feel the tears trying to escape her eyes. She looked at his hand, clenching into a fist. She recognized the anger from a week ago, only this time, it was more intense. Caroline panicked.  The last time she had seen that look on his face, someone had died. Caroline grabbed his arm and looked into him.

“Do not kill him,” she said sternly. He looked at her with a slight confusion in his eyes.

“I wasn’t thinking about killing him,” he said.

“Oh please, you had that exact expression on your face before you killed that girl.” He looked at her, surprised. They sat there, next to each other for a while. Neither of them said a word. The minutes ticked by. But Caroline’s hand did not leave his arm.

“Is this why you wanted to become a vampire,” he finally muttered.

“I really don’t want to talk about this, Nik.” He nodded.

“You know you can’t back home, right?” he said, suddenly sounding very young.

“I know.”

“So, where will you go?” Caroline shrugged. She hadn’t really thought about it. She knew Nik’s words were true. Home was not an option. Not anymore. Her limit had been crossed. She couldn’t go back to him. Even the thought made her want to throw up.

“You should come stay with me,” he suddenly said and touched her hand. She looked down at their joined hands. It was odd. But somehow it felt so right. But this man was a killer! She screamed at herself silently. How could she just sit here, with this man. This vampire. This _monster._

“Are you aware, that you killed someone in front of me, less than a fortnight ago? I ran, screaming. Or did you miss me calling you a monster?” He laughed.

“Then why are you here? Why aren’t you with your friends, with anyone else but me?” Caroline shook her head. She didn’t really know. It made no sense to her. Rationally, she saw the monster. She still saw his face in her nightmares. But somehow she was drawn to him. She knew she shouldn’t have been. She should be disgusted by him. And on some level she was.

“Why I am here is irrelevant to the matter at hand. I can go stay with Elena.”

“Don’t you think that her place would be the first place he’s going to look?”

“Fine, I’ll just go stay with Bonnie!” Caroline said, frustrated. He laughed at her, mockingly.

“You would move to a one bedroom apartment with someone? Really?” Caroline rolled her eyes. She could stay with Bonnie if she wanted. She wasn’t a snob.

“Come on, Caroline. I have plenty of room; you wouldn’t even have to see me, if you didn’t want to.”

“Why are you trying to help me?” she asked. She couldn’t see what his motives were. He hadn’t made a single attempt of eating her. He hadn’t really harmed her in anyway, but he had chased her away. She couldn’t read him.

“I really don’t know, love.” He smiled at her. And she couldn’t help but to smile back at him. And right at that moment, he was a viable option. She knew Bonnie and Caroline were out of question. And she really didn’t have any other friends. All her other relatives lived in other cities.

“Fine, but only for tonight,” she found herself saying. Nik shook his head.

“No way. You stay as long as you need to, until you find something better. And trust me, love, you will have a hard time finding something better,” he smirked. Still holding her hand, he stepped down from the stool and helped Caroline down.

“Come on, love. Let’s go pack your belongings.” And as he led her out of the bar, she felt safe. Safer than she had felt ever before.

***

Klaus looked at Caroline. She had fallen asleep next to him in the car. As he looked at her, he couldn’t help but to think about what he was doing. He didn’t know why he was doing this, why he was trying to save her. A man like him shouldn’t be in the position to save anyone, the least someone as pure and innocent as Caroline. But the more he thought about letting her go back home to her father made him want to kill something, and bad. For some reason he couldn’t let go of her. He needed to keep her safe. All of this was so unlike him that he wanted to back down on the whole thing. But watching Caroline sleep, so peacefully, he found himself wanting to spend more time with her. He couldn’t understand why he was feeling like he was. But he feared that it would lead her to join him to his darkness. And Klaus never wanted that fire in her eyes to die, he realized that now. Somehow, in such a short time, she had become someone important. And people who were important to Klaus were never safe. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Please comment if you can spare a minute! I love hearing what you think. Plus it makes me write faster :)  
> Also, all my love to everyone who read and left kudos.


	5. You are the night time fear

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. But the plot is mine. So don’t copy it.
> 
> AN: Hi guys! Thank you so much for all the kudis! And I love every single one of your comments, you are the best!  
> Sorry for the delay with this chapter, but I hope you will enjoy it!
> 
> P.S. If anyone would be so awesome and would want to make a banner for this story, I would be eternally grateful. I have zero skill with photoshop, so if someone would be willing to do it, PM me, please!

 

Caroline woke up well rested. The bed was so comfortable that she didn’t want to get up, but the bright sunlight begged her to open her eyes. She was in a large room that was decorated beautifully with antique furniture. The place was spectacular and it took a long time for her to realize where she was.

“Oh my god!” Caroline shrieked and jumped out of the bed with record speed. She remembered going to the Inn, drinking way too much whiskey and finally, agreeing to Nik’s suggestion of her staying at his place. She couldn’t remember anything after entering the cab. She must’ve fallen asleep.

She had been drunk. Too drunk. What else would explain her being here? Caroline had just witnessed him _murdering_ someone. She was in the house of a stranger, who was very capable of killing people. 

What the hell had she been thinking?

 

***

What the hell had he been thinking? Taking Caroline to his place had been the worst idea, Klaus thought to himself as he watched Stefan enter the apartment. This was not good. Humans and Stefan did not go well together. Well, not if you didn’t want them to be dead within the next hour or so. Klaus watched as Stefan’s smirk turned into a frown.

“Why do you have a human in here?” he asked as he neared Klaus.

“None of your business, Stefan.” Stefan laughed at his defensive tone and poured himself a drink. The man was never sober, but at least he was a funny drunk.

“Are you already hoarding your dinner?” he joked, turning his gaze to the direction of Caroline’s room. No, not Caroline’s room. The room she was residing in, he reminded himself.

“No, she’s not dinner.” Klaus growled. Stefan merely laughed again.

“Stefan, you do not touch her. She is my guest. Understood?” Stefan lost the smirk and looked a bit puzzled.

“Are you telling me, that you have a human here, and that she is not meant to be food?”

To be honest, Klaus was as surprised by his own actions as Stefan was. This just wasn’t something he did. He didn’t save humans from their miserable lives. This wasn’t him. But somehow, he saw himself in her. He had taken the beatings for a long time. And thinking that there was no one to take the beatings for her like he had taken them for Rebekah made him want to track down Caroline’s father and kill the bastard. Very painfully.

“So, are you the good guy now?” Stefan was back to smirking.

“Don’t be stupid, Stefan, it doesn’t suit you.”

“Well, then it’s good that I brought some snacks. Ladies!” He yelled the last part, making the sudden loud noise hurt Klaus’ ears. Two pairs of heels clicked in the hallway and finally entered the room. The women were beautiful, like always. Stefan liked them pretty, and brunette. It had probably something to do with Stefan’s fixation to his maker, Katherine. But frankly, Klaus wasn’t really that interested.

The girls were more suitably dressed for a night out, and considering it was ten in the morning, Klaus assumed Stefan had stayed up all night.

“Take your pick, Nik,” Stefan urged. Klaus looked at the two brunettes. Neither of them looked very appealing to him right now. His mind was filled with images of a certain blonde, and he just couldn’t seem to shake them.

“The one in red,” he finally decided.

“A fine choice. Girls, please take a seat.” Stefan instructed them and they gladly obeyed. They were compelled to obey, but as Klaus sank his fangs into the girl’s soft flesh, he learned that they were not compelled to be quiet. But Klaus could barely hear her. The sweet blood entered his mouth and that was all he needed. The images of Caroline were gone, only the blood remained.

***

Caroline paced around the room, thinking what to do next. Nik had been right last night. She couldn’t go back home, his father would come looking for her from Elena’s, and well, Bonnie lived in a tiny apartment and didn’t really have room to house Caroline.

But still, there had to be a better option, Caroline thought and sat down by the vanity table. Her make-up had smeared. She tried to rub it off, but it only made it worse. She would have to find a place to freshen up.

She stared at herself in the mirror, and suddenly, noticed that the bruise in her throat was gone. So were the ones in her arms, and frankly every bruise in her body was nowhere to be found. And now that she thought of it, she had woken up without the slightest of headaches, and boy had she been drinking.

How odd, she  thought, but then suddenly, she heard a scream. Then another. She didn’t know what to do. For a moment she was paralyzed by the fear. He was a killer, after all. But her curiosity won, like it always did. She left her shoes lying by the bed, and tiptoed her way out of the room, her feet silent on the hardwood floors.

The apartment seemed huge. She had no idea where she was going or where she was coming from. She knew the apartment was high up from the ground, and judging by the size, she assumed that the apartment covered a whole floor in the building.

Caroline finally came to a room that looked like a parlor, only to be faced with her host drinking the blood of a woman. She noticed another man, doing the same. Caroline stumbled a couple of steps back in horror. She didn’t know what to do. She wanted to yell them to stop, but doing that might prove to be dangerous, deadly dangerous.

She backed down, still pondering what to do, when a sharp pain made her yelp. She had backed against the door frame, and now two pairs of red eyes were staring at her.

“Caroline –, “Nik started, but before he could say anything, she ran. Again.

But this time she didn’t get far. His hand grabbed her shoulder. Caroline tried to struggle away from his grip, but he would not budge. He turned her around without effort, forcing her to face him.

“Where are you going, sweetheart?” he asked, his eyes back to normal now. But Caroline could still see traces of blood on his lips. It made Caroline sick.

“Away from you,” she hissed. He shook his head and finally wiped the blood from his mouth. Caroline looked behind Nik’s back and saw the other man, _vampire,_ staring at them. His face was full of blood, and his eyes still gleamed red. A shiver ran down her spine as she looked at him. And suddenly Nik’s hand on her shoulder did not feel like the thing she should fear, but like something that would keep her safe.

She knew it was ridiculous. She had just witnessed both of them doing the exact thing. They had both been sucking the life out of those innocent girls. But now, Nik’s hand on her made her feel safe. He was going to keep her safe.

Nik glanced over his shoulder.

“Go,” he said and looked at the man. He looked wild, but got up from the sofa, taking the girl with him.

“I’ll just come back later,” the man muttered, taking the girls hand on his and lifting her wrist to his lips. His fangs sank to her flesh, making her whimper from the pain. Caroline let out a cry. The girl was going to die and she couldn’t do anything. She was so helpless.

The man left with the girl, but the other girl was left on the sofa, bleeding.

“Now, where are you going, love?” he asked, making her tear her eyes away from the girl.

“Anywhere. I would be better off with my father,” she said with venom in her voice. She felt tears prickle in her eyes. She turned her gaze away from his grey eyes, but his hand came to her jaw, tilting it so she was looking at him. The look on his face was furious.

“Don’t ever, ever, say that again. You will never go back to that man, you understand me, Caroline?” he said with such urgency.

“Yes,” she whispered, tears rolling down her face.

“You’ll be safe here. No one is going to hurt you. No one,” he said quietly, and brushed her tears away with his thumbs. The moment seemed to last forever.

“Okay,” she said, not capable of taking the intensity of the moment any longer. She believed him. For some absurd reason, she knew that she would be safe. He wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. His hands left her face and Caroline was hit by the sudden feeling of longing. His hands hadn’t felt disgusting on her skin like they should have. They were the hands of a killer. Instead, they had felt right. Like they belonged there.

He cleared his throat and took a step back. “Dinner is at eight. Don’t be late.” Caroline was just about to tell him that she did not want to have dinner with him, and she didn’t even have any clothes here, but before she could even open her mouth, he was gone. She hadn’t even seen him move. The girl from the sofa was gone too. A bulge formed in her throat. How could she trust a killer to keep her safe?

***

 

“Nik, what the hell were you thinking?” Rebekah raged on in his study. Klaus groaned and pressed his hands to his face.

“I don’t know!”

“What is it about her that makes you do this? We don’t mingle with humans. _You_ don’t mingle with humans. You loath them. They are weak and nothing but food.”

Rebekah had come barging in a few hours after Stefan left and alerted her about the human situation going on.

“I don’t know, Bekah. I just couldn’t let her go back there.”

“This isn’t you, Nik!”

“I know! But there is just something about her…” He sighed and grabbed his paint brushes and paint. When something bothered him, he painted. His sister kept pacing back and forth.

“Are you going to turn her?”

“You think she would still be willing to be turned? I killed someone in front of her and she ran screaming.” She laughed, making Klaus even more annoyed at her. He hadn’t wanted or needed her presence. This whole situation was eating him up anyway. The last thing he needed was his sister to tell him how ridiculous and unlike him this was. He knew, oh he knew. And it bothered him. But every time he laid eyes on the girl, he just couldn’t turn away from her. He couldn’t even imagine just leaving her and never seeing her again. There was something about her…

“You would be surprised what a desperate woman is willing to do to survive,” Rebekah said and paused behind his back. The painting he had started the previous night was starting to take shape.

“That’s her,” Rebekah muttered. Klaus nodded and took a step back to examine his work. It was Caroline. The scared Caroline he had seen behind the Inn when he had made her watch him killing the girl.

“Oh my god,” Rebekah murmured. Klaus turned around to look at her. “You are going to fall in love with this girl.”

 

***

Caroline took advantage of the hours she had until she would have to dine with Nik. She walked around the apartment. And it was huge. It had several bedrooms and multiple bathrooms. Her room actually had its own bathroom, and as soon she was done searching the place, she sank into a relaxing bath.

She hadn’t seen anyone around the apartment. She could be alone, but then again, Nik did have heightened senses, and could easily avoid Caroline in this enormous place.

She didn’t know what to think of all this. He was a murder, who made her feel safe. It sounded absurd even in her own head. She knew she should be planning her escape right at this very moment, but she found herself unwilling to do that. Perhaps he had compelled her? But somehow, Caroline didn’t believe that was the case. That’s exactly what he would have you compelled to think, she reminded herself.

The bath had been relaxing, and only then she realized that she had nothing else to wear; only the clothes she had worn yesterday. She wrapped a towel around herself and went for the cabinets in the bedroom, only to find all her own clothes in neat piles on the shelves.

This just keeps getting weirder and weirder, she thought to herself.

 

Eight o’clock came too soon for Caroline’s liking. She was dressed in a floor length gown that she loved. Her hair was in perfect curls and her skin was flawless. It was stupid to make so much effort to look good, but Caroline couldn’t help herself. She liked looking as good as she could at any given time.

 A soft knock on her door startled her. She looked at her wrist watch. It was five to eight. A young girl was behind her door, probably a maid.

“Mr. Mikaelson is waiting for you, miss,” she said and motioned Caroline to follow her.

She led her to the dining room. She had seen it earlier today on her walk around the apartment, but it looked different now. All the candles in the chandelier had been lit, and there were peonies on the table. Her favorites. She stepped closer to the dining table. The china and silverware were exquisite. She had to give it to Nik, he had impeccable taste.  She leaned in to take a sniff of the flowers.

“I take it you like them?” his voice asked from behind her. She turned around to see him in a very handsome suit. His smile looked genuine, but his posture told her that he was agitated.

“My favorites,” Caroline murmured as Nik walked closer to her. His closeness made her heart beat faster, and after she realized that he could probably hear it, she blushed. His smile grew wider, but he did not comment. Instead he drew her a chair. Caroline reluctantly sat down. A murderer shouldn’t have good manners. That was just preposterous.

“I hope you like lamb,” he said as he took his own seat. Caroline merely nodded. Surely she wasn’t expected to make small talk with him? The first and main course passed in uncomfortable silence. Nik looked to be at ease, but keeping quite was very out of character for Caroline. But she persevered. Yes, he had offered her a place to stay, but he was also a vampire who killed innocent people. That was reason enough to stay silent.

The dessert arrived. Chocolate cake. Another favorite of Caroline’s. That made her very suspicious.

“Have you been spying on me?” Nik’s dessert fork stopped mid-air.

“And why would you think that?”

“Well, first the peonies, then the cake. Also, why are all my clothes here? How did you get them?” Caroline babbled nervously. She had wanted to ask about certain things that had come to her mind during the day and now it was all coming to the surface.

Nik chuckled. “No, love. I haven’t been spying on you. The flowers were just a lucky guess, and I have never met a woman in my life who didn’t love chocolate cake. Well I have not met a 20th century woman who didn’t like chocolate. It is a fairly recent invention.”

Fairly recent? She was pretty sure chocolate had been around for a hundred years. Just how old was he exactly?

“And I picked up your clothes while you were sleeping in the car,” Nik said, pushing the cake away.

“Would you like to dance?” he said as he rose from his seat, making his way to Caroline.

“Fine,” she said and took the hand he was holding out for her. Someone put music on as he led her to the parlor. Caroline didn’t really want to spend any more time with him, but somehow she thought he wouldn’t let her refuse his offer.

He positioned them in the center of the room, and slid his hand to the small of her back. His touch, even through the thick fabric of her dress, made her shiver. His dancing was perfect, as always.

“All my bruises are gone,” she said as she gazed down at her arms, unable to look him straight in the eyes. The bruises should have been there, but they had vanished, like last night had never happened. But it had.

“I gave you some of my blood,” Nik said as he spun her around the floor.

“Your blood?!”

“Don’t worry, love. You won’t turn into a vampire,” he chuckled. “Well, unless someone kills you in the next few hours. And I won’t let that happen.” Caroline just stared at him with horror.

“Vampire blood has healing properties. Those bruises looked bad. And I am quite certain you had a few fractured ribs. But now you are all better.” Something in his gaze made Caroline think that he was looking at her fondly. Certainly that wasn’t true. Was it?

“What, are you a doctor now?” she laughed.

“Among other things, yes.”

“You are a doctor?” She hadn’t seen this one coming.

“When you live as long as I have, you get bored. I’m also an engineer, a physicist and an architect.” Caroline stared at him with awe. He had done so much. So many things she had wanted. She envied him, suddenly.

“I wanted to be an engineer, when I was little,” Caroline murmured. The song changed. The pace was slower now, more intimate. Caroline had thought they would stop dancing, but he didn’t let go of her. For a moment they were silent.

“Why did you want to become a vampire? Because of your father?” he finally asked. Caroline really didn’t feel like talking about it. She was ashamed of even considering it. But for some reason, she felt like she could talk to him. Perhaps because he was a vampire himself. All she knew was that this was her only change to ever speak of it. Bonnie and Elena would never understand.

“Partly. He is not a good man, and I do want to get away from him. But it’s more than that. Yes, he abuses me, and in a few years I will be married to a man he deems fit for me. Perhaps a doctor, or a business man. But even if I got away from my father, it wouldn’t mean I would get away from abuse. And if he turned out to be abusive as well, what then? I would be tied to him my entire life. No escape.” Caroline said and took a deep breath before continuing.

“I could never be what I wanted. Perhaps I would get to go to university, but after that, I would be married and my sole purpose would be to be a good wife and reproduce. I don’t even like children. My life is determined for me. I have no options. I will never become an engineer. I feel like my life has already been lived. I can see my whole life ahead of me, and I don’t like it. I feel like I’m an animal in a cage. There is no way out. You’re a man. You always have options. You wouldn’t understand, “she said, finally braving to look into his eyes. She saw something deep behind them. Compassion, perhaps.

“I understand better than you think, Caroline. I was born in the 10th century. If you wanted to survive, you had no choice. You would stay with your family, hunt, provide for them. I didn’t have many years to live. Life was harsh and if you wanted someone to take care of you when you were older, you would have children. I know exactly what it feels like to see your future clearly and not liking what you are seeing. I do understand, love.”

Caroline stared at him. He was so old. And he did understand, like she had wished.

“Is that why you wanted to become a vampire?” she echoed his earlier question back at him.

“No, I didn’t have a choice. The choice was made for me, for all my siblings. But if you would ask had I ever wished I hadn’t become a vampire, the answer is no. I am more now. More than just a man.”

The song ended. So did the record. To Caroline’s ear everything was silent. All she could hear was her own breathing. They stared into each other’s eyes. For the first time in weeks, Caroline could see something more than a vampire, more than a murderer. She could see the man that was Niklaus Mikaelson. And she did not want to look away.

He leaned closer to her. She couldn’t move. She didn’t even know if she wanted to. And suddenly it was too late to decide. His lips met hers. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know, a cliffhanger, I am cruel. What do you think, will she kiss him back? Let me know, leave a comment!


	6. With the moon I run far from the carnage of the fiery sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. Plot is mine though, so don’t go stealing it.
> 
> AN: I am sooooooo sorry! I had a major block and just couldn’t write anything worthwhile. But here it is, if somebody is still reading this. Hope you’ll enjoy this.  
> Thanks for all the people who reviewed and followed and favorited. You guys are awesome!

His lips met hers. They were soft against her mouth and she sank into the feeling. It was not the first time she had been kissed, but her first time had felt nothing like this. This was consuming. She didn’t want to stop. She couldn’t stop. Not even if her head was telling her to.

His tongue caressed against her lower lip. Caroline didn’t think. It was like her body was making all the decisions for her. Her lips parted. She let out a soft moan against his mouth. This she had definitely not done before. Her stomach was full of butterflied. His hands were on the small of her back, making her shiver. She had never felt so good in her life. She felt out of this world. It was unreal.

His lips parted with hers, making her miss the new sensation immediately. But as his mouth left hers, she seemed to gain her senses again. All reason came rushing back. His hands were still on her back, and suddenly she realized that she had just been kissing a man who had only hours before drained a woman’s life with the same lips. Now they were red for kissing her, but she had just seen them red with blood. It made Caroline shiver, this time with disgust.

She pushed his chest to get away from his embrace. Caroline could not deny herself that his hands still felt good. But she was not a mere animal, she could think past her instincts. She had to.

“Don’t you dare to run from me for the third time,” his soft voice whispered too close to her ear. He hadn’t moved even an inch from her push.

“You told me to run the first time,” Caroline answered, not able to face his gaze.

“It was for your own good. You were supposed to stay away from me, but you didn’t. You came back. And now I don’t want you running away from me.”

Caroline didn’t know where she got the courage, but before she noticed she was talking back to him.

“Well, I like running away from you. You’re not the boss of me,” she said and faced his eyes without a blink. His stern face was now beaming gleefully.

“You aren’t afraid of me anymore, love?” Caroline didn’t know how to answer. When she thought about it, she hadn’t been afraid of him for some time now. If she had been, she would have never gone to the Inn after the encounter with her father. On some level she knew he wouldn’t hurt her. But not being afraid of him did not mean that she wasn’t disgusted by him. He was a killer. He was hundreds of years old, and Caroline couldn’t even fathom the amount of people he had killed.

“No, I am not afraid. For some reason I know I won’t be your dinner. But I know others will,” she said quietly, not trying to get away from him anymore. Perhaps he was right. Running from him would be futile. It was better to face him right away than run.

“No, you won’t be my dinner. Not that I wouldn’t object to a little taste,” he said, still wearing his signature smirk. Damn him and his handsome face.

“And then you wonder why I want to run from you. Do you understand how disgusting it is to touch someone who just killed an innocent girl. How is she different from me? She looked only a few years older than me. Why is she your breakfast, but I am your dinner quest?” Nik shook his head.

“You weren’t that disgusted a minute ago. I know you are attracted to me, love. And don’t bother lying. I’m a vampire, and let me tell you, I am an expert with smells. I can tell when you are afraid, same goes for lust.”

Caroline tried hard not to blush. She didn’t even want to think about all the things he had smelled on her. She had found him handsome from the very first time they met. But this was not the time to be embarrassed.

“Yes, I find you attractive. What of it? You may be attractive, but you are still a killer.”

Nik smiled as she admitted her feelings. But that did not matter, it could not matter. Caroline was better than this. She could control her impulses, she didn’t have a choice.

“I don’t deny that I am killer. Actually, I am probably one of the worst vampires you will ever meat. You don’t know the half of it Caroline. You really should have run when I told you so. I will bring you nothing but trouble, believe me.”

Caroline could not quite understand what he was telling her. Yes, he had tried to make her stay away, but he had been more than willing to help her when she turned up at the Inn. That didn’t seem like something you did if you wanted to make someone stay away from you.

“I have nowhere else to go anymore,” she said, sorrow in her voice. Her life had been flipped upside down the night she left her home. She had left her abusive father and was now living with a homicidal vampire. She had finally understood that she really didn’t have anywhere to go. If she went to live with relatives, her father would come collect her in no time. If she just left, she would probably starve to death. As a woman, she had very limited opportunities to get work. And even if she got work, it might not be enough to buy housing and food.

She had said goodbye to her future life as a dutiful wife and mother. But to what she had said hello to? To a life as a vampire? Caroline was not mean. Well, she could be really mean, but she wasn’t violent. She couldn’t kill people. She had morals. Unlike the unbelievably attractive centuries old vampire with whom she had just been locking lips with. 

How had she come here? Life seemed so random to Caroline. If she hadn’t stepped to the Inn with Elena that one faithful night, she would have never met Nik. She would still be at home, taking her father’s beatings. She would live the life she always expected to. But why did that seem so awful, and her current situation so much better? How could she prefer the company of a vampire to her fellow humans?

The answer was very simple. She knew he would never hurt her.

Nik looked at her with a sad expression on his face. He took a deep breath and tucked a lock of Caroline’s hair behind her ear.

“I wouldn’t want you to go away, Caroline. But you should. You aren’t safe with me. There are people who want me dead. Anyone who is with me is in danger. And you are a human. Do you even realize how fragile you are?” his hand stroked his face. It sent shivers down her spine. Nothing in him really disgusted her. How could she not make herself hate him even when she knew that he was a killer?

“You need to let me go,” she said with a stern voice. He stepped back.

“Do you realize that you are a killer? Don’t you understand how I feel standing here, as a human? Just this morning I saw two girls here, getting their life drained out of them. It could have easily been me!” Caroline yelled frustrated.

“I am what I am, Caroline. I have been this way for over 900 years and I will never change. I kill humans, I kill vampires. If someone gets in my way, I kill them. If someone insults me, I will probably kill them. So why would I not kill for food? I didn’t see you having any trouble eating the lamb. You realize that used to be a baby sheep?”

“You were a human once! How can you compare humans to sheep?”

“When you are a vampire, you realize how different vampires and humans are. Yes, I can sympathize with humans, but I can also sympathize with the poor lamb. But surviving for almost a millennium requires killing. I will never deny what I am. Killing to a vampire comes as naturally as breathing for you. I won’t apologize for what I am.”

“Then why are you kissing me and not ripping my throat open?!” Caroline shouted and threw her hands in the air. Nik didn’t move, just looked her pace around. He sighed.

“To be honest, love, I don’t know. When I first laid eyes on you, I wanted to eat you. But even then I knew you were special. I wanted to take my time with you. Taste you over and over again. But as you can see, you are not dead and my fangs haven’t gone even close to piercing your precious skin. If I had the answer, I would tell you. I fancy you, Caroline.”

She stared at him for a long time. “You _fancy_ me? What does that even mean? You make me run away, then you practically save me, and now you are kissing me? What is it that you want from me?”

Why would a man like him _fancy_ her? Never had men picked her over her friends. Nik had met Elena and Bonnie, but she was here, not them. She was _never_ the first choice.

“Nothing. I just want you.” The grey in his eyes was too piercing, forcing Caroline to look away.

“I think I’m going to bed,” Caroline muttered, unable to carry on with this conversation.

“Good night, love. Sleep tight.”

“Good night, Nik,” she answered and could not help but to smile back at him.

 

***

The whole night Caroline had struggled. Her feelings were getting the best of her. When she thought of the situation objectively with reason, she knew she should take her things and go. But when she forgot about reason, she couldn’t think any reasons why she shouldn’t stay. He made her feel safe. She liked him on some odd level. And the life he offered was something that you only come across once a life time. Caroline wasn’t even sure if he would change her or not. Last time the subject had been discussed, he had made her watch him kill someone. His reaction had been so major that Caroline wasn’t sure he would ever change her. But the change was still there, and he had brought up it last night. He hadn’t asked if she still wanted to be a vampire, but he hadn’t gone off killing people either.

For a long time after the faithful night at the Inn Caroline had thought that she did not want to be a vampire and that she never truly had wanted to. But now that she was here with him, she couldn’t help but to think about being like him. Nik kept telling her that vampires killed, that it was their nature, but Caroline was sure she could control it. She wouldn’t just turn into a mindless beast. If Nik could choose not to kill her, certainly she could decide not to kill anyone. Humans could survive if you only took a little of their blood.

She really wanted it. Perhaps she would live to see sixty if she was lucky. But humans were plagued with illnesses and women often died in childbirth. Caroline wanted to see the world. There was so much to explore that the forty years she probably had left would not be enough. She needed more time. And she wanted the eternal youth. But most of all, the power. For so long she had felt powerless.

She had made a decision. If the opportunity arose, she would go for it.

 

***

The telephone rang. Klaus sighed and put down the paintbrush. The portrait was taking shape. So far he was pleased with it, but when it would be finished, he would not be pleased with it. It had been the case with dozens of coal drawings. He had been unable to capture Caroline’s beauty.

“Hello?” he answered.

“Nik, listen. Kol has been seen at the Inn,” Rebekah’s voice said from the other side of the line. Klaus cursed and reached for his jacket.

“Is he still there?”

“According to the glamoured bartender, he is still there, but I think we should hurry.”

“I will be at your place in five minutes, be ready to go. There is already one open case in the Chicago police. It won’t take Mikael long to find us if he keeps this up.”

“I know, Nik. Just hurry. I’m sorry.”

“You can say that again when he is safely daggered in one of coffins.”

 

***

Caroline hadn’t left her room all day. She had been pondering about her situation and what she should do with it. She had wanted to call her friends, but couldn’t bring herself to do that yet. She could only imagine their disappointed faces. Breakfast and lunch had been delivered to her room by a maid, but dinner time was getting closer and Caroline thought it would be very rude to just sit in her room alone. She dressed a bit more casually than she had yesterday, since she had not been really invited to dine with her host.

The apartment was quiet, more so than usually. She wandered into the dining room, finding it empty. No one had even set the table. Was she alone?

Footsteps echoed in the hallway outside the dining room. Caroline automatically assumed that it would be Nik. The only people she had seen in this apartment were Nik, his scary friend and the unfortunate girls. And the steps were definitely male. They were heavy. Caroline made herself lose the smile that had been starting to form on her lips. The door opened.

A stranger stepped into the dining room. His smile was blinding and he was very handsome.

“You look very dashing, my darling. I could just eat you up,” he said with the wide smile still on his lips. Caroline frowned. She had never seen this man, and something told her that he wasn’t supposed to be here.

“Who are you?” she asked and took a few steps back, towards the door. Something about him made her feel very anxious.

“I am Kol Mikaelson. And I am very hungry.” His face transformed. Caroline could hear a scream, her own scream, before everything went black.  

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Any thoughts? I really like reviews (: So please review if you have a minute, I always welcome any kind of critique.


	7. Still not too old to die young

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Chapter Seven, yay! And it took less than a week, thanks to all of those great reviews!   
> This is also the longest chapter to date!  
> Hope you’ll like this!

Klaus and Rebekah arrived to the Inn only ten minutes after Rebekah’s call. But he was not there. Klaus cursed and controlled his urge to grab the nearest glass and throw it against a wall.

Rebekah looked agitated and for a good reason. Klaus was not known for his kind nature, and it was her fault their brother was out of the coffin in the first place. Klaus was not pleased with her. And when he was not pleased… Well, it usually meant daggers to hearts and corpses without heads.

She approached the bartender she had glamoured to give her a call if Kol would ever be seen in the Inn.

“Where is my brother?” Rebekah demanded. The bartender smiled.

“Mr. Mikaelson says hello. Also, he thinks it’s very rude of you not to be home to greet you guest, Mr. Mikaelson.”

_Caroline_ was the only thing rushing through his brain.

“That bastard,” Klaus cursed.

 

***

Caroline groaned as she tried to open her eyes. She felt dizzy and the back of her head was throbbing. At least she was alive. She managed to open her eyes just to come face to face with the strange vampire. Caroline tried to back away, but the sofa she was laying now gave her no way to escape. 

“Good to see you awake, darling. You were getting a bit boring, to be honest with you,” he said with a smirk.

“Who are you? What are you doing here? And what happened to me?”

“That’s awful lot of questions, sweetheart. You didn’t give me a change to introduce myself before you panicked and tripped on a chair and hit your head against the floor.”

That didn’t make any sense to Caroline.

“You were about to eat me!” she yelled, the loud voice making her head ache even more.

“I’m not going to deny that I was about to take a small sip, just to see what was so special about you that my brother keeps you around and paints portraits of you,” he said casually. Wait, what? Nik painted portraits of her? No, Caroline, focus, she reminded herself.

“You are Nik’s brother?”

“Oh, you call him Nik, you really must be special. And yes, I am his brother, the one and only. Well, not the only, there’s still Finn and Elijah, but I am the most intelligent, interesting and attractive brother. I’m Kol. And who would you be, sweetheart?”

Caroline didn’t really know anything about Nik, and it was just dawning on her. He apparently had three brothers, who knew? The only person Caroline had seen him talk to was that creepy friend of his, and she didn’t even know his name.

“I’m Caroline.”

“Yes, that is a nice name and all, but who _are_ you to my brother, I mean.” Caroline wasn’t sure what he was going after. It was a strange question to ask, and she got the feeling that the answer to the question would somehow be crucial.

“I’m no one. I’m just staying here for a while,” she said. Kol smirked and shook his head.

“Now, Caroline, I think you aren’t actually telling me the truth. There are no bite marks on you. Of course, Nik could heal those very easily, but he never bothers. Sometimes he keeps humans around as a convenient food source, but he doesn’t waste his precious blood on them.  And yet here you are, a human girl, not a mark on you. Well, if we don’t count that nasty wound you got when you fell. So, I’ll ask again, Caroline. Who are you?”

“I really don’t know what to tell you. I met him a few weeks ago, and  I didn’t have anywhere to go, so he took me in,” she said, telling the truth. Last night Nik had told her that he fancied her. She didn’t have a clue what he meant by that. The kiss from last night would not leave her head, though.

“My brother, a philanthropist? I think not. Is he going to turn you?”

“I don’t think so.” Kol took a long look at her.

“There must be something about you that I can use. I won’t spend another few centuries daggered in a damn box,” he muttered. Daggered in a box?  This man was just so bizarre.

“You must be important. You wouldn’t be here otherwise. Yes. This is good.” Caroline blinked, and suddenly she was being held by the vampire. One of his hands was around his waist, the other on her throat. He wasn’t choking her, but Caroline screamed and started struggling. Of course it did her no good. She screamed again, alarmed, when the door burst open, revealing Nik and a blonde woman, judging by her speed, also a vampire.

Nik’s eyes were red and the veins in his face were clearly visible. His fangs were exposed, too. The last time she had seen him like this, she had screamed and ran away. This time, she let out a relived sigh. He wasn’t going to let his brother hurt her. She was sure of it.

“Let her go, Kol. I promise you, you’ll regret the moment you said hands on her,” he growled and stepped closer to them, but Kol’s hand tightened around her neck. Caroline started having trouble breathing. His hand was too tight around her neck. Panic was starting to take over.

“Is this how you welcome your dear brother, Niklaus? I find snack in your house and I am not allowed to eat it? Preposterous.”

“Let her go,” he said quietly. But the quietness did not reach his eyes. He was furious.

“Come on boys, stop bickering,” the woman said with the same accent as the two men.

“Shut up, Rebekah,” Nik hissed. Caroline struggled to breathe, tears started running down her face as she tried to swallow. Her throat was on fire. Nik’s eyes met hers. Only for a moment Caroline saw something in his eyes that she thought to be despair.

“You want her back? Fine. I have something you want and you have something I want. I want the daggers,” Kol said, loosening his grip a bit so Caroline could breathe properly.

“Do you really think I will give you the daggers? I have no intensions of ending up in a coffin, brother.”

“You can keep the ash. I don’t wish to see any of my siblings daggered in coffins, unlike you. I just want the daggers as an insurance that I will not be spending any more time in that damn box. Now is that too much to ask for?”

Nik glanced at Caroline, but turned his attention quickly back to his brother.

“Yes it is.”

“Oh come on now, Nik! I have your precious Caroline. Right now she might be unharmed, but humans are so fragile. I will have her neck snapped in two before you even take your first step towards me.”

Nik seemed to bonder Kol’s words for a while, but he seemed to realize that what he was saying was true. Caroline already knew that Nik would never intentionally harm her, but now she wasn’t so sure if her life was more important to him than those daggers they kept talking about.

“Fine, you can have the daggers. But not the one on Finn’s chest.” Rebekah turned to look at Nik with slight disbelief in her eyes.

“I will let her go as soon as I have those daggers in my pocket,” Kol said, and let go of Caroline’s throat. She immediately brought her hands up to her throat and rubbed it. It would be terribly bruised the next morning. She would have to wear a scarf. Kol’s grip on her was tight and he probably could kill her in a blink of an eye, but right now the only thing Caroline cared was the fact that she could breathe.

“Rebekah, the daggers are in my bedroom. Here’s the key. Also, wear gloves, the handle might burn a bit,” Nik said and dismissed her.

“It really is good to see you Nik. How long has it been? Two hundred years?”

“Enough with the small talk. I will rip your head off shortly.” Nik delivered the threat with a small smile on his lips.

“I didn’t even taste her and you are already ripping off the head of your favorite brother? You insult me, brother.” Nik quirked his eye brow, not believing his words.

“I can smell the blood, Kol.”

“Oh that! It’s just a small head wound. She fell. Girls tend to pass out when they see how handsome I am,” Kol said. Caroline couldn’t see him, but she could imagine the smirk on his lips.

“Love?” Nik questioned his voice suddenly a lot softer, full of concern.

“I’m fine,” she said, wiping the tears from her face.

“No, you are not okay. I told you no one was going to hurt you. And I’m sorry. He will pay for what he did.” Caroline felt tears welling in her eyes again. She wasn’t that badly hurt, but the fact that he was so concerned about her made her emotional. No one had really cared so much before.

Rebekah arrived with the daggers in her hands and gave them to Kol. He released Caroline. She still felt dizzy and her feet were about to fail on her, but Nik’s hands were suddenly around her, laying her down on the sofa before she could hit the floor.

“You better go now, Kol. But you can count on seeing me again soon.” Nik said his voice full of poison. Kol disappeared.

Nik brought his wrist to his mouth, revealed his fangs and bit into it. Caroline let out a small cry.

“What are you doing?” His mouth was red with blood, and before Caroline could do or say anything, his wrist was pressed against her mouth, his blood flooding in.

“You’ll heal.” Nik said and stroke her hair as Caroline gulped down the blood so she wouldn’t choke on it.

“Sleep, you’ll need it,” he said as he removed his wrist from her lips. Caroline looked at her, just about to argue that she was not sleepy, but something in his voice made her eye lids feel heavy. She yawned and fell asleep.

***

Klaus left the living room where Caroline was peacefully in a glamour induced sleep. He knew she would have a couple of carefully chosen words to say to him about that, but right now he just wanted her to rest. She had been through a lot in the last couple of days; she needed to rest without having to worry about her father, living with a vampire and now about his brother.

Klaus was livid. He was so, so angry. At Kol, but also with himself. He had told Caroline. He had told her he wouldn’t let anyone hurt her. But he had failed. And it felt worse than his father beating him repeatedly, worse than failing to break the curse. Klaus hadn’t felt anything like this in a long time. When Henrik had died, he had shut himself down completely. And now she was awakening feelings in him that he hadn’t thought to be feeling ever again.

He entered his study and took a look at the portrait. He was happy with it, surprisingly. Perhaps it was because she wasn’t smiling in this one. She was scared, fearing for her own life. And it was because of him.

Klaus was frustrated, angry and very, very confused. He grabbed the half empty tumbler from the desk and threw it against the wall. He looked at the whiskey running down the wall, and let his face wall to his hands. Everything he had done the past few days was so unlike him. He had been alive for centuries, always unchanging, an emotionless beast that everyone feared. Then one blonde human entered his life and turned it all upside down. Klaus couldn’t understand how it was possible. Nothing about Caroline screamed remarkable, but when Klaus looked at her, nothing and no one he had ever seen could compare to her. She was special.

And this angered Klaus to no end. This wasn’t supposed to happen. If Caroline was just another normal human girl, Klaus would still have his daggers. He wouldn’t have lost some of his power over Kol. If Caroline was just another girl, Klaus would have called Kol’s bluff. He would have killed her, but Klaus would not have cared.  He would have his daggers and he would have Kol safely daggered in his coffin. By choosing Caroline, Klaus had made the choice of knowingly putting himself and Rebekah in danger. He had seen Rebekah’s disapproving look, and he couldn’t help but to agree with her.

However, seeing Caroline being choked by Kol had made him see red. But anger wasn’t the only thing he had felt. The moment he had realized that Kol had gone back to his apartment and that Caroline was there alone, a strange sensation had filled him. Fear. He never feared, but when he grasped the fact that Caroline could be dead, he couldn’t help but to be afraid. Somehow this girl meant more to him than himself or his family. And that was unacceptable. That was not Klaus.

Klaus reached for the telephone and dialed.

“Stephan, meat me at the Inn.”

“Finally!”

***

When Caroline woke up, the head ache and dizziness were gone. It took a minute to realize that she was sleeping on a sofa and not the huge and comfortable bed she had last woken up in.

 Then everything came rushing back to her.

“That bastard,” Caroline cursed Nik as she realized he had glamoured her to make her sleep. If she wanted to sleep, she did. He had no right!

“Hi,” a woman’s voice called from a distance. Caroline shook off the blanket that someone had put on her and sat up startled. The voice belonged to the woman she had seen earlier with Nik, Rebekah.

“I’m Rebekah. Nik and Kol’s sister,” she said and came closer, taking a seat in an armchair that was located within a respectable distance from Caroline. She appreciated the gesture.

“I’m Caroline,” she replied, her voice still hoarse. It was still dark outside, so she guessed she had not slept to the morning. It had been around dinner time when Kol had come into the apartment, and when she had been forcefully put to sleep.

“Oh, don’t I know,” Rebekah said and rolled her eyes. Caroline looked at her pointedly.

“What is that supposed to mean?”

“You are the human girl my brother just gave away the daggers for. And we really needed to get Kol into the coffin again.”

“Why do you want to put your own brother into a coffin? Not that I object, he was about to kill me.”

Rebekah turned to look at the fire place. The fire was burning, painting Rebekah’s face red. She took a sip from her wine glass. For a moment Caroline thought she was going to ignore her.

“Because if we won’t, Mikael will find us.”

“Who is Mikael? And why don’t you want him to find you?”

“If he finds us, he will kill Nik and everyone who comes in his way. Mikael is our father.” Caroline stared at her. Their _father?_ Caroline had never thought that anyone else would have a worse father than she had, but at least hers didn’t want to kill her.

“Why would your father want to kill him?”

“Caroline, I know that Nik hasn’t told you much, but I think you should know something. Because I know you will stick around, and the faster you learn, the safer you are. And if you are safe, Nik will be safe too. Judging from what happened today, you would be perfect bait for Mikael. You are only human and if Mikael ever found out that someone was important to Niklaus other than his family, he would go after you.”

“Why does he chase him? And why on earth would he go after me? I’m no one!”

“I need to tell you who we really are, Caroline.”

And so Rebekah started a story that began in the 10th century. The Mikaelson family had sailed from the old world to the new long before Columbus was even born. Rebekah had four elder brothers and one younger brother. The village they had settled was otherwise ordinary, but once month the villagers hid into the caves to hide from the humans turned to beasts. One night Nik had wanted to observe the wolves, and his youngest brother Henrik had come with him, despite Nik’s objections. The wolves couldn’t control themselves while in their animal form, and Henrik lost his life. The accident shook the Mikaelson family and their mother Esther, a powerful witch, decided to protect the rest of her family from something like that ever happening again. They were turned into vampires.

Young vampires cannot control themselves, and they all went on a feeding frenzy. But when Nik killed the first villager, something happened. He was one of the wolves. He was no trueborn son of Mikael, but a bastard son of Esther. The curse activated and Nik became a werewolf-vampire hybrid. But his werewolf side needed to be restricted, so a curse was placed on him, repressing his werewolf side.

Ever since Nik had been searching for the way to break the curse. And he had almost managed to do so with one Katerina Petrova. She escaped though, and Nik was unable to break the curse. A few decades ago he had learned that killing the doppelgänger would only break the curse, but he would be unable to make new hybrids. He had been able to track down a way to keep the doppelgänger alive, but he hadn’t been able to find one after Katerina.

He searched feverishly, but Mikael was always on their trail. He could never accept Nik, since he was not his son, and a result of his wife’s infidelity. He swore to take Nik’s life, who was an abomination, according to Mikael. He had the potential to be a hybrid, the most powerful immortal being in the whole world, and Mikael needed to get to him before he would become impossible to kill.

“Wow. You were the original Vampires. I can’t really believe all this,” Caroline murmured when Rebekah came to the end of her story.

“You see now why you could end up being the death of Nik? If Mikael finds out who you are and how important you are to Nik, he will use you. And Mikael will come, Kol always draws attention.”

Caroline desperately wanted to ask about the part where Rebekah said how important she was to Nik. Yes, he had said that he fancied her, kissed her and taken her in to his house, but was she really that important? Instead she asked about Kol.

“Kol… He has the habit of killing women in a very specific way. He doesn’t really have a type of women, but when the police find young women with their own hearts in their hands, it really draws attention.”

Caroline stared at Rebekah, unable to say a word.

“He rips their hearts out of their chest and places it in their hands?!” Rebekah nodded. Caroline felt cold. It could have been her. She could be dead right now.

“He doesn’t do it that often, but if he stays in one place for a long time, he can’t control it. It’s always women who are a certain age. It’s his revenge for someone he knew a long time ago.” Caroline just nodded. She didn’t need to know more about the gruesome details. Nik murdering that girl in front of her started to look like nothing at all. The fire was going out as Rebekah finally stood up.

“I know you wanted to be a vampire before Nik had to go and demonstrate his abilities to you. He thinks you don’t want to be like us anymore. But I think you do. And you need to talk about it with Nik. The sooner you are turned, the better.”

Caroline nodded, her head filled with all this new information. Rebekah left, leaving Caroline alone, staring at the dead fire.

The sun was already coming up; there was no sign of Nik.

***

“I don’t know the hell has been up with you the last few days, but it’s good to see you back to normal,” Stephan said as he lifted his mouth from the neck of the brunette. They were sitting in the middle of the busy Inn, and no one looked at them twice. Humans were so easy to fool.

Klaus smirked at him. The red head next to him was still alive, but he didn’t plan it to be so for much longer. He needed a binge. 

“You always bring the best out of me, mate,” he smirked and sank his teeth into her neck. She sighed as her blood drained from her veins and ended up in his mouth. Klaus felt high on blood, but he wasn’t even nearly done.

The red head was still warm next to him, but soon she would be cold. And he needed more.

Stephan’s girl was even more lifeless than his, if that was even possible. Her neck had been ripped open with such violence. Ripper. Just what he needed.

The Inn was closing, but Klaus wasn’t ready to stop this party. The sun was coming up and he had no intention going home. He needed to forget everything for a while.

“Let’s take this party back to my place, shall we?” Stephan suggested and grabbed the nearest four girls and glamoured them to come with them.

The cab ride was obnoxiously laud. The petite blonde girl was glued to Klaus’ side. The three brunettes were sitting with Stefan. Fine, Klaus could manage with only one girl.

Stephan’s place wasn’t big, but it sufficed. Stephan sat down on the sofa, the girls putting music on, and dancing for him, taking articles of clothes away at the same time. Klaus grabbed the blonde who eagerly followed with him. She had been glamoured to come with them, but she hadn’t been glamoured to everything he wanted. He didn’t need to do that.

The blonde attacked his mouth after he had slammed the door of Stefan’s bedroom closed. Klaus desperately wanted to get the image of Caroline out of his head. This kiss was nothing compared to kissing her. But as the girl started unbuttoning his trousers, Caroline fled his mind. She grabbed his cock and smiled at him. He unzipped her dress and quickly removed her undergarments. She was completely naked before him. He pushed her into Stephan’s bed and stepped out of his trousers, and removed his shirt. The girl squealed when he pinned her to the bed. She pressed her lips against his neck and moaned loudly. Klaus pushed her back down on the bed and entered her. The girl kept making those god awful noises. He wanted her just to be silent. He sank his fangs to her neck, making her shout out due to the foreign feeling. The blood was sweet. Much sweeter that she was. He wasn’t in the mood of taking his time. Not with her. Not now. He thrust in her a few more times, her blood constantly running to his mouth.  He came with a low grunt. He rolled of off her. Necrophilia was not his thing. He inched back to her neck and let the last drops of her blood fill her mouth. She died long before she was empty of blood. After the last drop of her entered him, he rolled onto his back.

Laying there next to a corpse he couldn’t help but to think of her. She never left her. Caroline. She had stayed with him. Even though he had tried to make her stay away.

He had just fed, killed, and fucked. Yet he was even less satisfied than he had been hours before. Nothing made him feel like he was used to feeling. Sex had always been satisfying. Blood even more so. All the blood was still sweet, but not as sweet as her kiss. Women were still beautiful, but not as beautiful as she was. No one and nothing compared to her. Was this love?

***

The sun had gone down again hours ago and she still hadn’t seen Nik. She had no idea where he had gone. By midnight she went to bed. She couldn’t just stay up and wait for him to come home the whole night. That would be pathetic. Just when Caroline was about to fall asleep, the door of her room cracked open. She stirred awake. The footstep came closer to her bed. It was dark and she couldn’t see who it was. At first she thought that Kol had come back to get her. Her heart started beating faster as she pondered what she should do.

“It’s just me, love,” Nik said. He sounded intoxicated. It almost made Caroline laugh. It was just so absurd. The big bad original vampire was drunk like a regular old human. He stopped by her bed and sat down on it. The bed was huge and Caroline was lying in the middle of it. Nik kicked of his shoes and rolled close to her. Caroline’s eyes were staring to adjust to the darkness.

“Where were you?” she whispered. Nik’s hand came to her cheek, brushing the locks of hair from it.

“Here and there. It doesn’t matter. I’m here now,” he said. Caroline didn’t know what to think of him anymore. After her discussion with Rebekah she knew so much more about him. About his father, his dead brother. He felt so much more real to her.

“There’s no place in this world I would rather be, Caroline.” She didn’t know what to say. She had feelings for him, but she didn’t really know what those feeling were, yet.

“You have to believe me,” he pleaded. Something made Caroline reach to his face. She needed to touch him. It was something she constantly felt herself wanting to do, but she always restrained from doing so. But in the darkness, it felt almost like a dream. His stubble was course against her hand, and his hair so soft. Caroline couldn’t help but to wonder how the rest of him felt like.

“I do believe you, Nik.”

“Good. I need you to know. Nothing feels the same anymore. Nothing.” She stayed silent. His words weren’t making any sense to her.

“Did you kill people, Nik?” He sighed and rolled to his back.

“Yes, I did. Three girls.” He reached for the pocked of his jacket and pulled out pieces of paper. Caroline reached for the bedside lamp so she could see better.

They were letters. The dead girls’ letters, she realized. He answered to her question before she could even ask it.

“A reminder how utterly alone I am.” She put the letters on the table beside her bed.

“But you’re not alone, Nik.”

“No one stays. In the end, everyone leaves.” He looked so vulnerable. He was more real than ever before. She could never make excuses for the things he did, but she could understand them. She could look past them. She could. She would.

“I will stay. I promise.”

Nik looked at her for the briefest moment before he closed his eyes. The man that was now laying here beside her seemed like a completely different person than the one she had met in the Inn weeks ago. Caroline couldn’t help but to wonder how much her life had changed. He had given him hope. Hope of a better future. And she hoped she would be able reciprocate. The last thing Caroline heard was Nik muttering something that almost sounded like ‘I love you’. She fell asleep with a smile on her face, and her hand in his. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Don’t kill me! But I never believed Klaus to be celibate, and he’s really confused right now. I hope the last Klaroline moment convinced you that good things are ahead ;)  
> Also, a brief end note about the curse and stuff. So, Elena is not the doppelgänger, as you might have figured out already. She is related to Katherine, but they do not look like identical twins, more like regular siblings. Also, Klaus doesn’t know that Katherine is Katerina, so he doesn’t know who made Stefan. And Elijah is in Europe, tracking down Katherine, because Kalijah <3 And that’s why Nik and Elijah are not really speaking to each other.


	8. If you dare come a little closer

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi guys! Thanks for all the awesome reviews and the follows and everything! You’re the best.   
> Another long chapter, I don’t know what has gotten into me.   
> I hope you’ll like it!

It had been two days since Caroline had seen Nik. And more often than she’d like to admit she caught herself thinking of the night he snuck into her bed. She played it over and over again in her head and every time she was thinking about him, she found herself smiling foolishly.

When she had woken up that morning, he had not been there anymore. And she had wanted him to be there. What was happening to her?

As Caroline realized that she had been counting the days since she saw Nik, she realized she had not been counting the days since she last saw her friends. She immediately felt guilty. She had been so wrapped up in her own head and this new world of the supernatural that she had forgotten to inform her friends about her whereabouts. She wasn’t looking forward to that conversation, but it had to be dealt with.

Caroline headed to the salon where the nearest telephone was located. The apartment was quiet, but she didn’t think she was alone. If she had learned anything during the past week, it was that vampires could sneak up on her without an effort.

Here goes nothing, she thought to herself when she waited for someone to answer.

“Gilbert residence, Jeremy speaking,” Elena’s brother answered.

“Hi Jer, It’s Caroline. Could you ask Elena to the phone?”

“Care? Where the hell have you been? Everyone has been worried sick. Your father’s been here looking for you.”

“I’m fine, Jeremy. I just had to get away.” He sighed and told her to wait when he called Elena.

“Caroline?! I thought you had died or something!” Elena’s frantic voice came from the other end of the line.

“I’m so sorry that I didn’t call you sooner. I just had so much to think about.”

“I’m just glad you are fine. You are fine, aren’t you? Where did you go? Why did you leave?”

“Yes, I’m perfectly fine. I just needed to get out of my house.”

“Because of your dad? Jeremy told me you’ve had some trouble with him.” Caroline sighed. No one knew. Except Jeremy. He had witnessed one of those incidents and Caroline had begged Jeremy not to tell anyone about it, and he had respected her wishes. She didn’t need any pity. Apparently now Jeremy had thought it necessary to mention it to Elena, and Caroline couldn’t blame him. She had been missing for days now, and she had not told anyone where she had gone.

“Yes, I needed to get away from my father.” She didn’t want to go into the details.

“But where are you?” Caroline didn’t want to lie to her friend. But she knew Elena would not take the news lightly. In the end, she chose truth.

“You remember Nik? I’m at his place.” The line went silent for a while.

“Care, are you telling me you are at a vampire’s house? Please tell me you know some other Nik?”

“I am indeed at a vampire’s house, yes.”

“Did he glamour you? I need to call Bonnie, we need to get you out of there!”

“No, he didn’t glamour me. Well, he did once, but I’m over that now. I’m actually fine. This place is huge. And the food is great.” Caroline tried to joke about it, but Elena did not think it was funny.

“Your father is out of town again. You can go home again. Bonnie and I can come get you.”

“That’s good to know, since I’d like to have some of my things here, but I’m not going home, Elena.”

“Caroline, listen to me. He is a vampire. He kills people. He’s evil.”

“You can’t tell me anything I don’t already know, Elena. I really appreciate your concern, but I’m good here. Actually, I’m better than I have been for a while. I’m going to stay here as long as I figure something more permanent out. I don’t really have access to any money right now, but I’m trying to figure things out. But I’m figuring them out from here.”

“I’m sending Bonnie to talk some sense into you. She’s a witch. You need to come home. He’s a _vampire!”_

Caroline couldn’t take it anymore. She had been struggling with the fact that she herself wanted to be a vampire for weeks now, and now her friends only argument to get her go back to her abusive home was that the man who had taken her into his house was something she wanted to be too. It made her angry and sad to know that if and when she turned, her best friend would no longer be there for her.

“Good bye, Elena. I hope we can talk later.”

“No, wait –“ Elena started, but Caroline ended the call before she could say anything else. Caroline felt like crying, but she couldn’t. She had known from the very beginning that if she ever turned, she would have to leave her human life behind. But Elena had been in her life for as long as she could remember. And her words had hurt. Elena wasn’t walking about her, she knew that, but how she viewed Nik would be how she viewed Caroline after she had convinced Nik to turn her. Everything in her life was changing. And she couldn’t always tell if it was good or bad. Getting away from her father and her predetermined future was great, but losing Elena… She had always thought that she would be in her life forever. But forever is a long time for a vampire.

“Caroline?” a feminine voice called. Rebekah was standing by the door, looking a bit concerned.

“Hi, Rebekah. What brings you by?”

“Well, I was going to see what my brother was up to, but then I just saw you sitting here all alone. Is everything okay?” Her concern seemed sincere. And frankly, there was no one else to talk to.

“It’s just my friends. They don’t really approve of me being here.” Rebekah nodded, and took a seat next to Caroline.

“I’m not going to tell you that I know how you feel and then try to tell you that everything is going to be okay, because most likely everything will turn out terribly and Mikael will kill us all. But while we’re still alive, we might as well enjoy it. How about shopping?”

She was right. It did Caroline no good to dwell on possibly losing Elena when she turned. She could deal with it when she had to. And right now, shopping sounded damn good.

“I would love that,” she said and smiled at Rebekah. She was actually nicer than she had originally thought.

“Did I hear something about shopping?” a voice called and Nik’s creepy friend walked in.

“Stefan, go away, this is for us girls,” Rebekah said, but still smiled at him. She obviously liked this creepy man named Stefan. Well, he was good looking; she had to give her that.

“Oh, you really think he will let you take her out by yourself? With Kol still out there?” Rebekah scoffed and rolled her eyes.

“Excuse me, but I can go out whenever I want to, thank you very much,” Caroline said with a sudden burst of confidence. Maybe it was because he was referring Nik not wanting Caroline to get hurt, and thus Stefan was likely not to hurt her.

Stefan merely smiled and poured himself a whiskey. Nik walked in just as he was raising the glass to his lips.

“What’s going on? Stefan? Bekah?” He looked like he always did. Incredibly handsome. But he wasn’t dressed in his smart suits as he usually was. Instead he was wearing a long sleeved undershirt and suspenders and they were covered in paint. Needless to say, he looked even more handsome than ever before. Caroline bit her lip as she stared at him. She couldn’t look away. Maybe it was just because she hadn’t seen him in two days, but he was ever more appealing to her than ever before.

He met her gaze, and she got a weird feeling that he was able to read her thoughts. Even the idea of him knowing what went through her head made her blush.

“Caroline and I are going shopping.” Rebekah informed, earning a disapproving glance from Nik.

“Do you really think it’s the best idea to go out know that Kol is out there, with the daggers?”

“Oh come on, Nik! He doesn’t even have the ash, and he’s not going to hurt me, I’m his little sister.”

“He hurt Caroline,” he hissed behind closed teeth.

“Great, let’s just continue talking like I am not even in the room!” Caroline finally said as she got rid of the haze inflicted by Nik’s good looks. Every pair of eyes in the room turned to look at her.

“We’re going shopping, right?” Rebekah asked.

“Yes. Also, I’d like to go home and gather some of my things.” This made Nik tense. He was clearly alarmed.

“Home?” he asked quietly.

“Well, yes. I have some things I’d like to gather before my father thinks to throw it all away.” Nik was still all tense and worried. “My father is out of town,” she added quickly and he got visibly more relaxed.

“Okay, fine. But would you mind if we came shopping too? I do need a new hat,” Nik smiled adorably, and frankly, Caroline couldn’t say no to that. Those eyes were pleading for her to say yes, and she couldn’t deny him.

“Fine, you can come.” Rebekah rolled her eyes, but when she turned to look at Stefan, the look in her eyes told Caroline that she was pleased he was coming. Caroline was still weary of Stefan, but she clearly liked him. Maybe he wasn’t that bad?

Nik smiled at her and disappeared to change into something more appropriate. When he left Caroline realized that she didn’t have any money. Damn.

***

The cab ride was very awkward for Caroline. She was seated between Nik and Stefan. Rebekah and Stefan were whispering something she couldn’t hear and laughing about it, and Nik just sat by her side, not saying a word. She couldn’t think of anything to say to him. Should she bring up the fact that he had crawled into her bed a few days ago? She really wanted to. She needed to know why he had left. She had woken up feeling so happy, but then he had been gone. Caroline chastised herself for feeling that way. She shouldn’t be affected by his doings. But she was.

The cab halted in front of an upscale boutique. Nik helped her out of the car and into the side walk. The sun was shining and the trees were already getting leaves. Caroline loved the spring time; it was her favorite time of the year.

They were greeted at the door and Rebekah immediately abandoned Stefan and grabbed Caroline’s arm. Everything was just so beautiful, and Rebekah clearly knew what she liked. Caroline picked a few dresses to try on. Nothing wrong with trying. She had a feeling that Rebekah would spend enough money for the both of them.

Nik and Stefan got seated outside the dressing room and were served coffee. Caroline was used to trying out clothes with Elena, but this was completely different. Rebekah insisted that they would come out of the dressing room at the same time and parade in front of Nik and Stefan. They acted like they did it on regular basis, so Caroline just went with it.

The first dress she tried on was black. It wasn’t bad, but she didn’t love it. Nik and Stefan of course complimented both of their dresses, but Bekah just shook her head and led them back to the dressing rooms. The next dress was dark blue, and ended just below the knee. It would be a perfect dress for a night out, and Caroline adored it.

When Bekah got out of the dressing room, Caroline paused.

“Those are trousers.” Rebekah just smirked at her and nodded.

“One step towards equality, don’t you think?” she asked and Caroline had to agree. It looked odd to have a woman wear trousers, but she made them look good. She immediately liked Rebekah more. She clearly agreed with Caroline on the issues of gender equality. Perhaps she needed to get a pair too.

“That dress is gorgeous. You must take it,” Rebekah said as they walked into the lounge where Stefan was clearly spiking his coffee with something illegal.

“Doesn’t she look amazing in this dress, Nik?” His eyes were already on Caroline. But they weren’t looking at the dress, they were staring straight into her eyes. The way he was looking at her made her heart beat faster. How awkward. They all could hear it. But she couldn’t help it. The way he looked at her made the butterflies in her stomach go wild.

“She looks perfect,” he said quietly, his eyes never leaving her. The kiss they had shared days ago popped into her mind. His lips had felt heavenly against hers. She found herself wishing that they were alone. What was it about him that made her like this?

“You must get the dress, Caroline,” Rebekah insisted.

“I think it’s a bit outside of my price range,” she murmured. She didn’t usually have money troubles, but she couldn’t really go asking money from her father now.

“Don’t worry about it,” Nik said.

“No, I’m really fine without it,” she said, already feeling bad about living with him without cost and eating his food, but now he wanted to buy her a really expensive dress?

“Come on, Caroline, he wants you to have it and he has no shortage of money, so just take it,” Rebekah said.

“No, I really couldn’t.”

“Oh for Christ sake, just accept the dress and let’s get out of here!” Stefan said, now drinking openly out of his flask.

“Thank you, it’s very nice of you” Caroline finally managed to say.

“Not really, love. It’s actually quite selfish, as I like seeing you in the dress,” he smirked.

“Now you ruined the dress. No need to buy it, I won’t wear it,” Caroline smirked right back at him. Sometimes he was such an annoying cocky son of bitch.

“Oh come on, love. I do want you to have it. I like to see that smile on your face.” She couldn’t keep on the angry face for a long and cracked a smile.

“Ah, there it is. Take the dress, and wear it for dinner,” Nik said.

“I think it’s a bit fancy to be worn just for dinner at the dining room.”

“Then we better take it out for a spin, don’t you think sweetheart?” Caroline hadn’t been out in a long time and she couldn’t help but to think how much fun she would have.

“Deal.” She smiled.

“Can we just get out of here already?!”

“Oh shut up, Stefan.” Rebekah barked. Caroline laughed, exchanged looks with Nik and disappeared into the dressing room.

***

Rebekah had dragged them into way too many stores, and now Caroline had a new dress, gloves and shoes. Nik had also found his hat, and he looked so good in it that Caroline had hard time taking her eyes off him.

They were outside on the side walk, taking a little stroll. The weather was just so beautiful that Caroline had insisted on it. She felt proud of herself. She had insisted three vampires to go on a stroll with her. It felt odd that she had actually once feared for her life when she had been around Nik.

Rebekah and Stefan were way ahead of Nik and Caroline, and she was glad that she had a moment with him.

“I wanted to thank you. For everything. Letting me stay with you, eating your food, and now for all this,” she said and pointed at the bags that Nik was carrying for her. He really could be a gentleman when he wanted to.

“You don’t need to thank me,” he said slowing down even more, letting the distance between them and his sister and friend grow.

“I really do. I know I haven’t been the best quest in the world, and I can’t even tell you when I’m leaving.” Suddenly Nik grabbed her hand and stopped abruptly.

“You don’t have to leave,” he whispered and looked down into her eyes. His hand was clutching her forearm.

“I can’t exploit your hospitality forever, Nik.”

“You don’t need to leave. You can stay as long as you want to.” Something in his voice made this matter seem so urgent, so important.

“Right now I have no other options, but surely you’d appreciate to get your privacy back.” His eyes got even more intense and he seemed to be so close to her, so close she could touch her lips with his if she would just lean in…

“Caroline, I don’t want you to leave,” he said and he almost seemed to be in pain when he said it.

“Oh…” She couldn’t think what to say. He didn’t want her to leave… Her heart was filled with something she didn’t quite recognize. A wide smile appeared on her lips. Someone actually wanted her.

“I don’t want to leave,” she said with a smile.

“Good.” He said, leaning closer. He was so near that Caroline could feel him breathing.

“Oh my god! Look, a bird shat on Stefan!” Rebekah screamed, completely ruining the moment. Caroline cursed under hear breath, but joined the others in laughing at Stefan’s misfortune.

***

Rebekah and Stefan headed back to Stefan’s apartment and Nik volunteered to go fetch Caroline’s belongings from her house. After the cab pulled to a halt in front of her house, Caroline turned to look at Nik.

“I know you won’t stay here and wait, so I just want to say a few things. My mother is not well. Her mother died a few months ago, and she has been worse. She might be a bit disoriented. I just wanted to give you a heads up,” Caroline told him. He nodded and helped her out of the cab. The truth was that her mother had been like this ever since she could remember. Sometimes she was fine, happy and cheery, but the other times… She couldn’t get out of bed. She slept all the time. Her father refused to take her to a doctor because it would be embarrassing and he could lose his reputation or something equally stupid.

Caroline loved her mother more than anyone in the world, but she never told people. Normally no one met her mother, and now Nik was meeting her. Somehow it seemed very significant for Caroline.

The house was quite. Their housekeeper Molly was probably retired for the day, so it was just her and Nik. 

It was odd to be back. The house didn’t look any different, but it felt off. Then it dawned to her. It was not her home anymore.

“Let’s go pack my things and then go see if my mother is okay.” Nik just nodded and followed her to her room.

Her room was very bright. The walls were painted yellow and all her things were left just as she remembered. Only the wardrobe was empty due to Nik’s intrusive but thoughtful nature. Caroline grabbed a travel bag from the closet and started putting her things in.

She took all her jewelry, her photos and a teddy she’d had since birth. Finally she reached under her bed and lifted a loose floorboard. It was full of money. She had been saving since she was eleven.

“Why do have all this money in there?” Nik asked and held the bag for her as she stuffed it in.

“When I was eleven I seriously thought of running away. So I started saving. I never went through with it, but kept saving if I would just wake up one day and decide to leave.” Nik didn’t say anything. He just looked at her. Not with pity as anyone else she knew would have. But perhaps with respect.

After she got the last bills in the bag and got up from the floor with his assistance, he didn’t let go of her hand.

“Now you’ll never have to use it,” he whispered. Tears were forcing their way down her cheeks. She smiled and nodded. She had gotten out. He had been her way out. And now that she was outside with him, she didn’t want to leave. She squeezed his hand and led him out of her room to her mother’s bedroom.

She knocked, but did not wait for an answer. She never answered.

“Hello mom,” Caroline said to the woman under covers, her head barely visible.

“Caroline? Is it you?” She stirred a bit and looked at her daughter and the strange man standing at the end of her bed.

“It’s me mom. I hope you have been okay while I was gone.” She sat to the edge of her bed.

“Yes… You were gone… I’m so sorry Caroline,” she mumbled.

“No need to be sorry, mother.” Her mother grabbed her hand and looked at her with clarity she hadn’t seen in a long while.

“I didn’t protect you. I should have sent you away. I’m so sorry, darling.” Tears were now running down her cheeks. Caroline had never heard her mother talking about this. She hadn’t even known that she had known.

“It’s okay, mom. You couldn’t have done anything.”

“No, I should have done something, Caroline. But everything has been so hazy… Do I know him?” she asked and nodded at Nik.

“No, mom. He’s a friend of mine. He took me in.”

“He’s handsome,” she said, making Caroline smile.

“Yes, he’s very handsome,” Caroline agreed and glanced at Nik. He smiled at her.

“He’s a good man, for taking care of you.”

“He is.” It felt odd to talk about Nik when he was right in the same room, but it also felt good to finally let him hear what she thought of him. Or at least a part of it.

“Do you like him?”

“Yes, I like him very much,” she murmured.

“He makes you happy. You father never made me happy. You should hold on to the people who make you happy, Caroline.”

“I will, mom.”

“Good, good. I’d like to be at the wedding, but I don’t think I have that much time left.” Caroline blushed. Why had she let Nik come with her again?

“Mom, don’t say that. You’re fine. And no one is getting married.”

“I feel it Caroline. I’m fading away. And it’s okay. I’m glad I got to see you. I’ve meant to tell you that I wanted you to have some things. They were my sister Jane’s. When my mother died all their things were sent here. Jane died in 1912, but all her things were still at our parents’ house. She had just gotten married and they were going to come here. I hadn’t seen her in years. But the terrible ship accident…”

“She died on the Titanic?” Caroline had never heard her mother talking about any of this. She knew she had two aunts, but nothing more. She had never met or heard of them.

“Yes. Her James had bought tickets as a surprise. She was so excited. James and her and just gotten married and they were very happy. He was a good man. And they were perfect together. You would have liked Jane. It’s a shame you never got to meet her. But I wanted to give you her things. There are some clothes, books, diaries and jewelry. I think you might find some of it useful. The box is in the closet. I went through her things. I miss her so much.”

“Thank you.” The box was heavy and very large.

“Let me help with that,” Nik murmured as she noticed Caroline clearly struggling with it.

“Mom, I don’t really have to take these things, I think you would enjoy them more.”

“I won’t be enjoying them for long, darling. Besides, I think you will really enjoy the dress. It might not be the current fashion, but it’s very beautiful.”

“Mom…”

“Caroline, I want you to take it, kiss your old mother and then leave with that very fine young man.” Caroline was almost certain she heard Nik chuckle when she called him young.

Caroline leaned in and kissed her mother’s cheek.

“Now go,” she urged Caroline. Caroline sighed but did as she was told.

“I’ll come visit soon.”

“Goodbye, Caroline.”

***

They took a cab back to the apartment. Caroline hadn’t guessed how depressing seeing her mother would be.

“I thought you were talking me to dinner tonight?” Caroline asked as they got up. Nik was carrying the huge box, but it didn’t seem to other him one bit.

“Tomorrow, okay?” Caroline nodded and got into the elevator that took them to the top floor. She opened the door for him, even though he probably could have managed it by himself.

“Could you bring it to my room?” Caroline asked. He nodded and walked after her. He put down the box and turned to leave, but Caroline called him back.

“You didn’t let me thank you today. But I really need to. Going back today reminded me how much better I am now, and you’re the reason. You got me out of there.” She took his hand shyly into hers.

“No, Caroline. I’m not the reason you left. I just helped you. If I hadn’t been there that night what would you have done?” His thumb stroke the back of Caroline’s hand.

“I would have gone home, drunk. Acted like nothing had happened and lived my life like before.” He shook his head.

“You don’t give yourself enough credit. Sure, you might have done all that, but I think you would have taken that money you saved, and left.”

“I never used the money before, why would have this time been any different?”

“Did you go out and get drunk any other time?”

“No.”

“I think you were done, Caroline. You’d had enough. If I hadn’t been there, you would be somewhere else right now, but not at that house. You don’t owe me anything, Caroline. You did it yourself. You made the decision to leave. Give yourself credit.”

He was right. She had never before gone out after he had beaten her. But that night she had. She left.

“Thanks, I needed to hear that.”

“Don’t ever doubt yourself,” he whispered. And he was so close, too close. She wanted his to come even closer. His mere presence was driving her crazy. But he did not close the gap between them, instead he let go of her hand and turned to leave.

“Nik,” Caroline called. He turned around to look at her. She walked to him, got on her tiptoes and pressed her mouth against his.

His lips didn’t respond immediately, but when they did, Caroline felt like she could faint. He deepened the kiss and wrapped his arms around her waist. Her hands found his hair and she couldn’t help but to yank it in the heat of the kiss. She moaned against his mouth, making him hold her even tighter against him. But she was merely a human. As much as she wanted to kiss him forever, she sunk back to catch her breath.

“Good night, Nik,” she whispered, her head pressed against his chest. His hand came up to stroke her hair. She never wanted to leave his embrace. This must be what heaven felt like.

“Good night, love,” he murmured and pressed a kiss to her head. He let go of her and immediately she felt cold, bare. Like something was missing. He glanced at her for one last time and left her standing alone in the empty room. And right at that moment Caroline realized how empty her life had been. Before Nik. She sank into her bed and pressed her hands against her face.

She was falling for the monster. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Soooo, what did you think? This chapter was more about Caroline and her feelings etc, but I promise you’ll get Klaus on the next chapter. Leave a review!


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own TVD or anything related to it.  
> AN: Thanks to all who commented and left kudos to this story!   
> Soooo, Chapter Nine! A bit shorter than the last two, but I hope you will like it. ;)

 

He could hear Caroline’s slow breathing across the apartment. Listening to her drawing breath made him calmer. She was alive and well, sleeping soundly. And that made him happier than anything had in a long while. Somehow Caroline had just infiltrated herself into his life and now that she was there, he couldn’t imagine his life without her there.

When she had brought up leaving he realized how much he wanted her to be there in his life. He couldn’t stand the thought of not knowing she was safe, that she was happy. Honestly, Caroline hadn’t been all that happy during her time with him, but she seemed to get better.

She had kissed him. It had only been a few hours ago, but Klaus could still feel the warmth of her lips against his. The last time he had initiated the kiss, it hadn’t ended up so great, so he had tried to keep his respectable distance ever since, but it had turned out to be harder to execute than he had thought it to be. After the night Kol had come over he had lost it. She meant too much for him, and he couldn’t handle that. Then he had snuck into Caroline’s bed. He was sick of fighting the feeling. The feeling that his chest was going to burst with joy every time he laid eyes on her. The feeling when she smiled at him. Like he was the luckiest man in the world.

He couldn’t think of her leaving. It hurt too much. And Klaus never felt hurt. She made him feel. It was all because of her.

***

Caroline spent the whole day going through the box her mother had given her. The books were diaries and a few copies of old romance novels. She felt a bit bad for reading the diaries, but she did it anyway. It was nice to get to know to her relatives a bit. She had never met her aunts, or her grandparents. Jane’s stories made it seem like she had known them.

The jewelry in the box was beautiful, and possibly very valuable. Caroline fell in love with a simple silver ring, but the small clear stones on the band made it clear that it was worth a lot of money. Caroline tried it to her right ring finger and it fit perfectly. She left it on.

On the bottom of the box, she found a veil and a wedding dress. Caroline recalled her mother saying she would like the dress in the box, and this was the only piece of clothing in the box.

She lifted the dress from the box and laid it on the bed. It was definitely not current, but it was beautiful. It was short sleeved and lacy, and it was absolutely gorgeous.

A knock on the door startled Caroline.

“Come in!” Rebekah stepped inside.

“Sorry to disturb,” she apologized and glanced at the wedding dress on Caroline’s bed.

“Don’t worry about it,” Caroline said and lifted the dress up, about to put it into her closet.

“The dress is very beautiful. The lace must have cost a fortune.” Caroline nodded in agreement. It was very fine, and the whole dress was made of it.

“It was my aunt’s. I never met her, but it feel like I did. All those diaries. There must be almost a decade worth of them,” Caroline said and pointed at the huge pile of books on her bedside table. She had started with the oldest ones. Jane had been ten, and the entries were very childlike, but she enjoyed reading about how Jane, her mother and their youngest sister Olivia had played all sorts of games back in their home in England. It was like looking back in time, to a time when her mother was still happy and carefree.

“That’s nice. I’ve always had a large family. How lonely it must have been growing up alone,” said Rebekah.

“I had Elena. She is like a sister to me. But she’s not very pleased with me right now,” Caroline smiled sadly.

“Families fight, but they always forgive. I let Kol out of the coffin and I’m still standing here. Nik forgave me.” Rebekah’s words were nice, but Caroline couldn’t imagine Elena ever forgiving her.

“I should get going,” Rebekah murmured. They had gotten closer on their shopping trip yesterday, but they were still not entire comfortable in each other’s company.

“It was nice seeing you, Rebekah.”

“You too, Caroline. Oh right, my brother asked me to say that you should be ready to leave at seven thirty.”

“Thanks.”

“You should really talk to him about it, you know. Becoming a vampire.”

“I will. Last time just didn’t go so well.” Rebekah smirked.

“Trust me, if someone can persuade him to do something, it’s you.” And with that, Rebekah left Caroline wondering what she said. She was just a mere human. How would she be able to make him do anything?

***

Klaus had been waiting for Caroline for five minutes. She was late. And he didn’t tolerate tardiness. But as Caroline appeared from her room, wearing the blue dress, he forgot what he had been thinking about. She looked absolutely gorgeous. There was something about her. He just couldn’t stay mad with her. She smiled shyly at him and he couldn’t resist the urge to smile back.

“You look ravishing.”

“You’re not looking bad yourself,” she smirked.

“Shall we?” Klaus offered his arm to her, which she took without hesitation, much to his surprise.

“We shall,” she said with a genuine smile. There was nowhere else Klaus would have rather been at that moment.

The restaurant was fancy and upscale, but the downside was that it was completely legal. There was no hope of getting anything stronger than lemonade. Klaus tried to read Caroline’s expressions to get a clue of what she thought of the place. He announced their reservation, but his attention never left her. She was looking around, but nothing about her revealed if she was pleased, impressed or just plain bored. Klaus could not read her. And that both infuriated and intrigued him at the same time.

“Please follow me, Mr. Mikaelson. Ma’am.” They of course got the best table in the house. He helped Caroline to her chair, the gesture making her roll her eyes at him. But he just chuckled. She deserved to be treated like a lady, and he would treat her exactly so, now and in the future. In the future, a small voice inside his head mocked him. Yes, he could not see himself without her. And he had tried, but that brought him nothing but agony. She needed to be with him.

“Good evening, I am George and I will be at your service tonight,” a young lad no older than eighteen announced and handed them the menus.

“Would you like me to take your drink orders now?” Klaus nodded and ordered a ginger ale.

“I’d like a cranberry juice, please,” Caroline said, still examining the drink menu which was unfortunately void of any decent wines. Klaus loved the 1920’s, but this prohibition was getting on his nerves.

“Very well, ma’am,” the boy smiled and left them to examine their menus.

“Do I really look old enough to be called ma’am? I won’t be eighteen in another three months,” Caroline complained.

“The lad’s just being respectful. And it’d better stay that way,” he said with a devilish smirk.

“Nik, please.” Her lips were pressed tightly together, she was not amused.

“Relax, love. I’ll be good.” Caroline’s icy blue eyes sparked dangerously.

“Ma’am, sir, are you ready to order?” the server appeared, breaking their intense eyes contact. Klaus nodded Caroline to go ahead.

“I’d like the salmon,” she said and closed the menu.

“I’ll have the same,” Klaus informed the boy and sent him away. Caroline was frowning.

“I would take you for the kind of man to order for women.”

“Sweetheart, you can eat whatever your heart desires. Anything. And that’s a promise,” Klaus said, his mind wandering to the gutter.

“Was that supposed to be funny?” she said with annoyance in her voice, but she was cracking a smile.

“Not really. I actually meant that. Anything you want, just say the word and it’s yours,” Klaus said, even scaring himself with the sincerity of his words.

“Are you trying to bribe me?” she looked at him with such a suspicion that only Caroline Forbes could manage.

“No, I’m not, love. But you deserve everything your heart desires.” Just then the server appeared with their food. They started eating in silence but Caroline was clearly agitated. He wanted to ask about it but he just couldn’t bring himself to do that. She would say something if she wanted.

They were halfway through their salmon when she finally decided to say something.

“You said you’d give me anything I wanted.”

“Anything that is mine to give. Well, even some things that aren’t mine to give,” he said and smirked at the thought.

“I’m serious, Nik,” she stared at him intensely.

“So am I, love.” Caroline paused for a while and studied him.

“I want you to turn me,” she whispered and looked at him with pleading eyes. He could see the want, the need, in her eyes. And how could he say no? He wanted her to stay. And for a vampire, that could possibly mean decades. Hell, even centuries. Klaus had admitted to himself that he did not want her to leave and right now he saw her there when he thought into his future, but he was still sure he would bore of her. He always did. But he was selfish, extremely so. And right now, the only thing he wanted was her. And humans were such fragile things. She was so weak physically. The people Klaus cared for always got hurt, and a human would get hurt so easily.

“I’ll do it.” For a long time Caroline just stared at him. Clearly she hadn’t anticipated his reaction.

“Last time this topic came up you brutally murdered someone and made me watch,” Caroline said so quietly only he could hear.

“Well, to be honest, that wasn’t even that brutal.”

“That is beside the point! I was certain you would be dragging me to some alley and make watch you drain a few other bodies! Why are you so agreeable now? I’ve been putting this off because I was afraid what you would do when I asked.”

“I would never hurt you, Caroline,” he said grimly. He didn’t want her to be afraid of him.

“And I know that, Nik. But you hurt people. People like me.” He shook his head.

“There are no people like you, Caroline. There is only you.” Caroline pressed her joined hands to her face. Wasn’t this going well, Klaus thought to himself and gulped down the last of his ginger ale.

“Why did you make me run when now you are more than willing to give me what I want?”

“When I made you run, I wanted you to stay away. Because on some level I knew that if I didn’t make you go away, I would not be able to just treat you like any other human. I’ve been this way for over nine hundred years, Caroline. I wasn’t about to change my habits for just some human girl. I didn’t realize that by doing that I was already changing my habits. I gave you an out. I wanted you to take it, so you wouldn’t be changing me any further. At that moment I realized that if you turned, you would be around forever. You would no longer be mortal. And forever is a very long time, love. If you were just a human, you would die away in a time that seems only like a blink of an eye for me. I would forget about you and go on with my existence, unchanged. But now I know there is no point in denying it. I don’t want you to go away. I realized that you changed me already. You made me feel, made me have feelings for you.”

“And what are these feelings?”

“I – I fancy you.” Caroline sighed and gripped her now empty juice glass so hard that it would have been in pieces if she had been already turned.

“I don’t even know what that means, Nik!” she was getting more and more frustrated by the second. This was not how Klaus had imagined this night going.

“Just that I like your company and that I don’t want you to go away.”

“I’m not going anywhere,” she whispered and suddenly grabbed his hand. Klaus looked down at their joined hands and was astound by the sweetness of the simple gesture.

“I’ll change you, but please, take a month to consider. That way you won’t be coming to me in a decade and complain that you didn’t have time to think this through and it’s all my fault.”

He had to break the sweet moment between them. Holding her hand and staring into her eyes was becoming too intimate and he did not know how to handle that.

“Okay, I will.” And just like that there was a smile on Caroline’s lips once again.

“Dessert, ma’am?” Klaus asked, grinning. He couldn’t help but to when she was smiling.

“Why yes, good sir. I would kill for a piece of chocolate cake.” Klaus lifted his eyebrow.

“I thought you were against killing.” Caroline rolled her eyes.

“Not if it means killing you.” He laughed at her venomous tone and ordered them the whole cake.

 

***

He hadn’t planned on it, but they ended up in the Inn. The more Caroline kept drinking, the happier she got. This amused him to no end. She was so rarely this happy in his company.

“You know what Nik? I don’t think I have ever been happier.”

“You’ll be happier, I promise.”

“You keep promising me things. If I asked you to take me away right now, to Paris, would you?”

Her eyes were glassy from the drinking, but her voice was as clear as the day.

“I’d take you anywhere you wanted to go. You deserve to see the world.” Caroline’s face lit up.

“Dance with me,” she whispered with a small giggle. Her balance was not the greatest at the moment, but he could hold her without an effort. Caroline pressed more closely against him than she had ever been. And that included the two kisses they had shared.

“I feel like I don’t know anything about you, Nik. But you know everything about me.”

“I don’t know everything about you, and I don’t think I ever will. I don’t usually share things about myself, but all you need to do is ask.”

“Have you ever loved anyone?” she whispered so quietly, as if she didn’t really want to ask him that.

“I thought I loved a girl once. Tatia. But that seems like a distant memory and my human emotions seem so meek.”

Caroline stared into his eyes. She clearly wanted to ask something else, but she didn’t say anything until the song ended.

“I need fresh air. And a cigarette,” Caroline mumbled and started to the back door. 

“Love, I don’ think those two go well together,” he said, but followed her anyway. They were in the same alley they had been when Klaus had killed the girl in front of Caroline.

“I don’t have any cigarettes,” Caroline cursed when she went through her purse. Klaus sighed and went for his suit pocket, and lit her cigarette. She took it and leaned against the wall.

“Her body fell to the ground right there,” Caroline murmured and pointed at the place. She shivered. Klaus hadn’t even realized that she was without a jacket. Humans got cold. Sometimes he forgot. It had been so long when he had felt cold. He took away his and placed it on her shoulders.

“I’m sorry I made you see that.” Klaus never apologized, but for her he did.

“I had to see it. I needed to know what you were.” Klaus didn’t know what to say. He had to agree with her. His method had ensured that she had no wrong perceptions about him, or what being a vampire was like.

“I saw what you did, and I’m still standing here. Wishing you would kiss me. There must be something wrong with me. The girl died right there, but all I want to do is feel you,” she said and locked her eyes with his. Her cigarette dropped to the ground as they reached for each other at the same moment. He pushed her against the red brick wall and ran his hand along the curve of her body. His mouth found hers. She moaned and opened her lips, inviting him in. Their tongues met, their bodies pressed together. She tasted like the cigarette, but he didn’t mind. Her own taste under it was overwhelmingly intoxicating. She moaned again and bit his lower lip. He growled against her mouth and lifted her to get a better angle at her mouth. She wrapped her legs around his middle and whimpered. His lips parted with hers and found their way on her neck.

“Do it,” she whispered. He paused and looked into her eyes that seemed to be dark with want.

“I want to know how it feels,” she panted. And he couldn’t refuse her. She was far too tempting.

The veins under his eyes became dark, his eyes red and his fangs came out. Caroline stared at his face, but he could not see fear. He sunk his teeth to her soft flesh and let her sweet blood flow into his mouth. It was nothing like he had ever had before. She was truly exquisite, even with the hint of alcohol. She moaned and he could sense nothing but pleasure in her. Her thighs pressed against his sides and her hands clawed at his head.

All too soon he had to stop. He didn’t want to take too much. He lifted his head from her neck and placed a sweet kiss on her lips, but did not let her legs fall to the ground. Caroline stared at him without a word, still short of breath. He bit into his wrist and lifted it to her mouth. She sucked without a word from him and did not show signs of disgust.

He finally let her legs fall to the ground, but he still held her against him. He did not want to let her go.

“I thought it would hurt,” she murmured and stared at him with wide eyes.

“Sometimes pain and pleasure go hand in hand.” Her hand went to her neck which was as smooth as ever.

“And Caroline, there is nothing wrong with you, you’re not a bad person,” he said, thinking to her earlier remark. She shook her head.

“But I should be appalled. That’s why Elena wanted me to come home. Because she would be disgusted. But I’m not. I want you. And I can’t stop wanting you,” she said and pressed her palms against her face. Klaus knew she was drunk and she probably would have never said those things if she had been completely sober, but at the moment he did not care. She wanted him.

“I’m sorry, I shouldn’t have said that to you,” she mumbled and pressed her head against his chest.

“I want to know what you’re thinking. Always.”

“Let’s just go home. Please, Nik.” Home. She thought home was his apartment.

“Of course. Home.”

***

Caroline was sobering a bit during the ride home. She could still feel his lips against hers, his teeth on her neck. She wanted him. And had admitted to it. Tomorrow she would possibly regret it, but right now his arm around her shoulder felt so good that she forgot why she was supposed to be disgusted by his embrace in the first place. He helped her out of the cab and never let go of her hand. But the second they got to the top floor he tensed.

“Someone is at the apartment. Two people.” he growled. He pushed Caroline behind his back.

“Stay here!” he commanded and entered the apartment. But Caroline had never been that good at taking orders. She entered after him. She could not see anyone, but Nik’s voice came from the salon loud and clear.

“Kol. You.” Caroline was a bit taken aback by the mention of Kol, but entered the salon anyway only to see a familiar face staring at her and the two vampires.

“Bonnie?”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: What did you think? And did you catch the Game of Thrones reference? Let me know and leave a comment!


	10. You lean towards despair; any given opportunity you're there

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I do not own TVD.  
> AN: Thanks for all those wonderful reviews; they always make me so happy! :)  
> Also thanks to those who followed or favorite this story or me.  
> Without further ado, I give you, Chapter 10!

_“Kol. You.” Caroline was a bit taken aback by the mention of Kol, but entered the salon anyway only to see a familiar face staring at her and the two vampires._

_“Bonnie?”_

***

Two hours earlier

Bonnie Bennett had been a witch her whole life. And she was a damn good one too. Actually, the best she knew of. But she was not arrogant, nor cocky. All she wanted in this life was to live a quiet life, not to be dragged into the business of the supernatural and take care of her Grams. But that was not what life had in store for her. Last night she had gotten a visit from Elena. She was worried about Caroline. Now, Bonnie had met Caroline only a short time ago, but she already considered her as her sister. Bonnie liked Elena well enough, but Caroline was the one she had truly connected with. So when Elena had come to her door and begged of her to find Caroline and take her away from the vampire, Bonnie had no choice but to do as she asked.

Caroline’s mother was in a bad condition, and she barely even noticed when the two girls snuck into her bedroom and drew blood from her to complete the tracking spell. After that it was fairly easy to find where Caroline was.

Bonnie had refused to take Elena with her. She would only be a liability, so now she found herself standing in front of the building Caroline was supposed to be in. Bonnie was no vampire, but witches had their ways of getting people do their bidding. So it was almost child’s play to convince the doorman to let her in and tell where one blonde man resided with a blonde woman. She took the elevator to the top floor, only to find her way blocked by a spell. This Niklaus Mikaelson was no fool, but unfortunately for him, his witch was not quite as talented as she was. Bonnie broke the spell without breaking a sweat and stepped into the enormous apartment. There was no one there. She searched the living areas to only find them empty. She found a few servant girls, but that was it. No one was home.

But it became certain to Bonnie that Caroline indeed was residing here. She found some of her things in one of the bedrooms. Bonnie recognized her beloved teddy bear and few pieces of jewelry on the vanity table.

Bonnie was no vampire lover and liked to stay out of their business, and she knew the Mikaelson family. Well, she did not, but her Grams recognized the name. The Originals. Bonnie knew it was perhaps very stupid of her to come here. She was powerful, yes, but the Originals weren’t ones to be messed with. Even if Bonnie did not fear for her own life, she had a family and she wanted to keep them safe. But right now, Caroline was not safe. Bonnie did not know what exactly was going on, but Elena was convinced that Caroline had been glamoured by Klaus to make her stay with him and do god knows what else. And if that was the case, Bonnie needed to be here, she needed to help her. She didn’t need to lose a friend. She had lost too many to vampires already.

Bonnie was just glad that Caroline was not dead yet. She very well could have been. Now Bonnie needed to take her to safety. Nothing good ever came from fraternizing with the blood suckers.

“Hello, sweetheart,” a man called from across the room. He made no attempt to come any closer, but Bonnie was not letting her guard down. He was clearly a vampire, and possibly an original vampire, too. Normal vampires were easy enough to control and make them feel pain, but the originals were somewhat a different thing.

He was handsome, she could not deny it. Even when she was supposed to be assessing the enemy, she found herself eyeing the vampire in a completely different purpose.

“I am no one’s sweetheart, sweetheart.” The man laughed and took a few casual steps towards her, but did not seem to be in any hurry to attack her. Bonnie would never be relaxed in the same room with a vampire, but surely he would have attacked her already if that was his intention.

“So, beautiful, what is a witch doing all alone in my brother’s apartment?” He took a seat, but before that he poured himself a glass of whiskey.

“I don’t think that’s any of your business, whoever you are,” Bonnie snapped and crossed her arms across her chest.

“I’m Kol. And you would be?” Bonnie just shook her head and refused to give him her name. She had no intention of ever seeing this man again, so why would she bother with him?

“How rude of you, darling.” Bonnie proceeded ignoring him.

“I bet you’re here for the lovely Caroline.” She could not help but to glance at him when he mentioned her. How many vampires had she been associating with?

“Ah, I’ve sparked your interest. Yes, I’ve met your precious friend. She was quite helpful in insuring I won’t be lying in a coffin ever again. Although that only made my brother even angrier. Oh well, he’ll get over it,” he chatted cheerfully.

“What did you do to Caroline,” Bonnie hissed through her teeth. The candles on the far table lit by themselves.

“Calm down, darling. She’s unharmed. I just needed her to get to my brother.”

“What do you mean?”

“My brother has become very fond of your blonde friend.” Bonnie shuddered. To think what they had done to her.

“I don’t care about your brother. I’m here to take her home.” Kol chuckled.

“I don’t think the beautiful Miss Forbes would like to go home with you,” he said gleefully.

“She doesn’t know what she wants if you _people_ have been glamouring her.”

“I don’t think Niklaus has been glamouring her.”

“You know what, _Kol_ , I don’t care what you think. I don’t want or need to talk to you. So let’s just sit here quietly until Caroline gets here and I can take her and leave.” He just shrugged and filled his glass again.

They sat in silence for an hour before they heard the elevator coming up. _Finally._

***

Klaus was not happy to see his brother and the witch in his apartment. Of course Caroline had not listened to him and was just behind him.

“Bonnie?” she asked, surprise written all over her face. She was as surprised as he was. At first he had thought she had invited her friend over for whatever reason, but it was clear that she hadn’t done that.  Klaus was more surprised that Kol had shown up. He had given him a proper beating after all that happened with Caroline, and he had made it quite clear that he was not to show his face here again.

“Hi Care!” Bonnie said with a smile and took steps towards Caroline. Klaus made no effort to move out of her way. The witch stopped and glared at him murderously.

“You’d better move, _vampire._ I’m taking my friend home,” she hissed. Klaus just lifted an eyebrow. Sure, she had broken into his apartment, so she surely had to be a powerful witch, but she would be no match for him. Klaus was just about to argue with the witch, but Caroline got there first.

“What? I’m fine here, Bonnie. I told that to Elena over the phone!” Bonnie looked at her suspiciously.

“Care, I told you about vampires and how they can glamour humans. I’ll take you home.” Caroline shook her head and stepped to reach Bonnie’s arm which she squeezes.

“Bon, I’ve not been glamoured. See, I’ve been wearing your bracelet this whole time,” she said and pointed at her wrist where the vervain filled bracelet still was.

“He could have easily taken it away!” Bonnie yelled frustrated. Klaus was getting real tired of listening to the witch, but it was somewhat amusing watching her insist that he had somehow tricked Caroline here, so he let it continue.

“Oh, he demonstrated just how easy it would be to take it away from me. But he gave it back. Well, he did glamour me once to go to sleep, but that’s all, Bon.  I wasn’t somehow tricked into being here. I came because I had nowhere else to go. I needed to get out. Do you understand that?”

“See, I told you she wouldn’t want to leave,” Kol smirked, only to be stared murderously by the witch.

“I get that you needed to get away from your father, Jeremy explained that to me when you went missing, but you have other options, Care!”

“And what would those be? I have no money. I’m not likely to get a very well-paying job and I have no place to live. So, please, do tell me of these other options.”

“I can help you get a place of your own. I’ll help you get a job. I’m sure Elena would be willing to help with the money issue.” Caroline shook her head. Klaus had been keeping a keen eye on her reactions. Even with all the things they had discussed over dinner only few hours ago, he got immediately anxious when the witch brought up Caroline leaving. She couldn’t leave. He didn’t want her to. He wanted her to stay.

“Bonnie, I don’t want to go.” Klaus almost sighed with relief. The conversation was taking a more private turn, and Klaus pondered if they should leave the girls alone, but Klaus did not want to leave her alone with the witch and he would hear every word even if he did leave the room.

“Caroline. You clearly aren’t thinking clearly. He’s making you –“

“He’s not making me do anything! I came here because _I_ wanted to. And I’m staying because _I_ want to. And I will be staying here for some while!” Bonnie stared at Caroline, letting the words sink in.

“Listen to me –,” Bonnie started, but Caroline interrupted her.

“No, you listen to me. I do not wish to be human anymore.” The whole room fell quiet. Bonnie and Caroline were breathing heavily due to all the shouting, and Caroline’s heart was beating fast.

“Care, no, don’t say that,” Bonnie whispered. Caroline shook her head and moved to take a seat.

“This is exactly why I didn’t want to tell you. I knew you wouldn’t support me.”

“You need to think about this. Do you realize what you are giving up?”

“I know perfectly well what I am giving up. I’m giving up the power my father has over me. I’m giving up on the power my husband would have over me. I’m giving up on a life with nothing else in it than your home, husband and children. That is not the life I want. I want to see the world. I don’t want what the society has to offer for me. Can’t you see that Bonnie?”

The sadness in Caroline’s eyes made Klaus want to comfort her. She deserved everything she wanted in life. And he was never going to deny her.

“I can, but you don’t need to become a vampire to give all that!”

“Maybe not, but it sure as hell makes it easier. I want to be strong. No one will hurt me. No one,” she whispered. Her face was hard, emotionless. Klaus did not want to see her like this. She was the light in his constant darkness. She felt things, made him feel things. And when someone made her so cold, dark, it just made Klaus want to rip her father’s head off even more.

“Caroline, please think this over,” Bonnie pleaded.

“I have. And I think you should leave.” Bonnie made no move to leave.

“You heard her. You were only welcome as long as she wanted you here. Now leave,” Klaus told the witch. Bonnie was still looking at Caroline, but she had turned her eyes to the windows.

“Please, Care. Come to the Inn tomorrow. Or any day. We’ll talk about this. I promise I won’t judge you.” Caroline said nothing. The witch sighed and started walking just as Klaus was about to remove her forcefully.

Caroline rose from her seat as the door closed behind her friend.

“I think I’m going to go lie down. Thank you for the lovely evening, Nik,” Caroline said and smiled sadly.

“It was my pleasure, love.” She gathered her purse and left to her room. This evening definitely had not gone according to Klaus’ plan. And now he had to deal with his brother.

“And you thought it would be a good idea to show your face here again?”

“Well, I thought you might want to know that Elijah is coming back from Europe.” Klaus had been prepared to beat the life out of him, but now his interest had sparked. He hadn’t seen Elijah since Katerina had gotten away from him. Klaus didn’t forgive easily, and he knew that Elijah had been chasing for Katerina all these years. He had fallen in love and he just refused to give up on her. Just like Klaus refused to forgive his brothers betrayal.

“You have my attention, brother.”

“I got a telegraph today. It informed me that Elijah has boarded a ship and will be in New York in about five days. It also might have mentioned something about being daggered in a box for the past decade and that your beloved Katerina has been in the United States for as long, and she apparently has something that would be very dangerous for us.”

Klaus sighed. He didn’t want to deal with all this. He had been after Katerina ever since she escaped, but he’d had no luck finding her. The girl was smart; he had to give her that. It served Elijah right to have been lying daggered in a box for a decade. Loving Katerina was pure madness and now he had paid for it.

“I will deal with this when Elijah gets here. I am assuming he will come to Chicago to shed further light on this matter?”

“Yes. He will be here.”

“Good. We need to deal with Katerina, preferably before she finds out we know that she left Elijah daggered in a box and that now he’s out. I am sick of that woman.” Kol smirked and kept draining his older brother’s whiskey supplies.

“Well, at least there seems to be one woman in your life you’re not sick of.” Klaus glanced at his brother. Sometimes you just couldn’t believe that he was older than twelve.

“You better keep your mouth shut about Caroline. You’re lucky that you are my brother. If you weren’t you might be short of a head right now.” Kol just chuckled like he always did and ignored his threats. He knew he was Klaus’ favorite brother, and he took full advantage of it.

“Are you really telling me that this girl is more important than your brother?”

“Family comes first,” Klaus replied and fixed himself a glass of whiskey.

“But you were willing to seriously harm _anyone_ who hurt her.”

“I still am,” Klaus said, making sure the message was sinking in to his brother’s brain.

“I’ve never seen you like this! Well, maybe when you had that huge crush on Tatia,” Kol said and paused for a while, a thoughtful expression on his face. “You’re in love with her!”

His laughter was full of disbelief. Klaus did not respond. He had been thinking about his feelings for Caroline for a time now. When he had still been human, he had thought he loved Tatia. Later he had realized that he had been foolish and it had just been an infatuation. Since his human days he had never felt anything close to how he had felt when he was with Tatia. Until now. And being with Caroline was… He was not as quick to label his emotions like he had been when he had been human, but he had to admit that already he felt more deeply for Caroline than he had ever felt for Tatia.

“You’re not even denying it. I thought I’d never see this day, brother. You always were the cold brother. The one telling us others that love was a weakness. Finn had his Sage, Elijah his precious Katerina and I… Well, you know how that turned out. You and Rebekah were always the polar opposites. She is always so eager to trust, to believe in true love. And you trust no one, love no one besides your family. What is it about her, Caroline? I see she’s beautiful. But that’s not what sparked your interest.”

“I wasn’t aware that you came here to discuss my relationship with Caroline,” Klaus said dryly.

“I didn’t. But I told you about Elijah and Katerina and now I want to talk about this human woman who made my evil brother actually feel something.”

“It’s her. Everything about her. Don’t you see the light in her? She is so _good_ ,” Klaus mumbled, thinking back to Kol’s questions.

“I see it, brother. But it’s like fresh snow. You see how beautiful it is, but you can’t help yourself but to fall on your back, make a snow angel, leave your mark. But then it won’t be the same again. The beauty is gone. But you couldn’t help but to leave your mark.”

Klaus looked at his brother, at first thinking he was threatening Caroline again, but he was warning him instead. He had darkness in him that not even his brother was fully aware of. If Caroline stayed, Klaus would taint her, for good.

***

Caroline had retired early and tried to get some sleep. But Bonnie would not leave her head. She wanted her friends’ support, but it was unrealistic to expect that, she knew it. Caroline did not want to think of Bonnie and Elena. It made her want to cry. Instead of thinking of her life and choices, she picked up Jane’s diary from the year 1904. Jane had been twelve. And the stories of this careless aunt of hers kept her depressive thoughts at bay. But it didn’t work for that long. When she got to the summer of 1904, she put the book down, put a dressing gown on and wandered into the kitchen where she poured herself a glass of water. The apartment was quiet, but she could see the light coming from the open door of Nik’s study.

She didn’t even fully consider what she should do. She just walked toward it, opened the door a bit further so she could slip in and stopped by the threshold. Nik was standing by the fire place, staring at something that was on his hands.

“Couldn’t sleep, love?” he asked but did not life his gaze. Caroline wrapped her arms around her middle and took a few steps towards him.

“No. I have too much going on in my head,” she confessed and glanced around the room. Her attention stopped on a painting. It was her. From that day.

“Why would you paint me like that?” she whispered. Nik finally lifted his eyes and stared at Caroline.

“I tried painting you happy and smiling. It just didn’t turn out quite right. Now this one… Those darker emotions are easier to capture. Maybe it’s because I’m more familiar with them. And also, I wanted a reminder. Of how _I_ made you feel so scared and how I never wanted to see that look on your face again. I of course failed, since you had that look on when my brother used you to get to me.”

“There was nothing you could have done, Nik.”

“There is always something you can do better. Like tonight.” He smiled a bit sadly at her. She stepped right next to him and took his hand in hers.

“Tonight was perfect,” she told him, but that only made him laugh.

“Sweet Caroline, you clearly haven’t been treated much like a lady if you think tonight was perfect. We had a spat in the restaurant, you got a little bit drunk in a speak-easy, I treated you like no gentleman ever should behind that said illegal establishment and then you fought with your friend. Do tell me again how the night was perfect.”

“For your information, mister, I very much enjoyed your ungentlemanly behavior,” she said and grinned boldly at him. He chuckled and rubbed his thumb against the back of Caroline’s hand.

“The night was perfect because I was with you,” she whispered. They both fell silent. Caroline had wanted to say something like this to him. She felt something for him. She wanted him. Physically and emotionally. She craved him every time she saw him, and when they talked like they had done tonight, it made her realize that no one had ever understood her quite like Nik did.

“Every second I spend with you is more magnificent than the last,” he said to her, gazing in her eyes with such intensity that Caroline wanted to turn her eyes away, but she found herself unable to do that. His eyes were so mesmerizing. _He_ was so mesmerizing.

“Why do you paint me?” she wondered aloud, unable to stand the silent tension between them.

“I don’t really know, love. You came into my life and lately you have been filling all my thoughts, awake and asleep. You tell me, how did you do it?”

“I didn’t do anything.” He laughed and let go of her hand, leaving it aching with the loss. He poured himself a whiskey and offered a glass for her too, which she accepted.

“That must be it, love. You do not need to do anything. It’s enough for you to just stand there and make men forget everything they were supposed to be doing and suddenly their lives revolve around you.”

“But I never get picked first. Even when I’m at a dance. It’s always Elena.” Nik took a seat and pulled Caroline next to him, so close that their sides were touching.

“Do not concern yourself with those puny humans. Their eyes are weak. They wouldn’t know genuine beauty even if it was standing right in front of their faces.” His hand found hers again, making Caroline less anxious at once.

“Thanks, Nik. I don’t care about that, not really. I just wish my friends would be here for me. Why can’t they accept that this is where I want to be?”

“I don’t have that much experience with friends, but I’d say that if they were ever truly your friends, they will get over themselves and accept you as who you are and who you want to be.” Caroline sighed and pressed her head against Nik’s shoulder. She yawned.

“You should go to sleep, love.”

“I will only be racking my brain over what happened today if I go back to bed.”

“Then stay. I’ll paint, but you can do what you like. There are plenty of books to read.”

In the end Caroline ended up watching as Nik painted her face on the canvas until dawn. She fell asleep as the first rays of sunshine reached the study and the last thing she felt was a soft kiss against her cheek, and a soft blanket placed over her. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Soooo, what did you think? Did you like Bonnie’s POV? Would you like more different POV’s in the future and if so, which characters? Please tell me what you thought and leave a review! They always make my day :)


	11. And I hear you calling in the dead of night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.   
> AN: Sorry for the long wait! I hope this will make up for it.   
> Thanks for all the people who left kudos!  
> Hope you enjoy this chapter!

_He was there. And his presence always meant pain. Caroline was frozen in the hallway, hearing the steps echo in the darkness. She couldn’t move. Pain was coming, and she was not strong enough to run._

_“Are you a whore, Caroline?” her father’s voice echoed. He came into view, and his face was twisted with ugly laughter. She opened her mouth to scream, but nothing came out. He laid his hands on her. The plows and the kicks, beating her into submission._

_“You deserve to be punished,” his voice whispered. That voice. It was pain. Her bones were breaking, and the crackling of them was the only sound in vacant house. She went limp. Dead. But she rose, and she was more than she had been before. More than a fragile little girl. Her face was twisted too, her eyes gleaming red. The face of a monster. And she grabbed him, breaking every bone in him. Pain to the man who was pain himself._

_“Monster,” he whispered with his last breath._

She woke up with a scream. She was safely in her bed, but she could still feel his hands on her. Caroline shuddered. Nightmares were nothing new to her, and they would probably never leave her, but this time it had been different. She had been weak, but she became strong. She took control. The dream left a nasty feeling in the back of her mind. He had always been a monster to her. Her own father. And now she was becoming the monster.

Caroline slowly got up from the bed and walked around her room. She had made her decision. She was to become a vampire, and she swore to herself that she would never become a monster. She would not make an innocent suffer like she had suffered, like she still suffered in her dreams.

The hour was early, but she dragged herself out of the room anyway to clear her thoughts, but when she opened the door, she found Nik standing there.

“I heard you scream,” he muttered. He twisted his hands awkwardly, as if he wasn’t sure what to do with them.

“It was just a dream,” she sighed and wrapped her arms around her waist. He nodded, quiet for a while.

“Do you want to talk about it?” Caroline gazed into his eyes. They were sincere, he really wanted to know, but she wasn’t sure if she wanted to talk about it. Then she remembered Rebekah’s stories. He had been her, all those centuries ago. He had been put down by a parent too.

“It’s my father. Even if I escaped him, he won’t leave me alone in my dreams.”

Nik was silent for a while and then took her arm, leading her back to her bedroom. They both sat on the edge of Caroline’s bed. He didn’t let go of her arm, and she liked the feeling of his skin against hers.

“He can’t hurt you anymore, Caroline,” Nik said quietly, gazing at her face. Caroline nodded and put her hand above his. His presence had a soothing impact on her. The nasty feeling was still there in the back of her head, but she was already less anxious.

“I know. I just can’t seem to shake him.” He nodded and they both stared out of the window at the rising sun.

“I know Rebekah told you about me, when I was human,” he suddenly said, still not looking back at her. His jaw became tense and Caroline found herself wanting to reach out and touch his face.

“I’m sorry if you didn’t want me to know that.” He shook his head and looked at her, his face relaxed.

“I would have liked to tell you myself, but there’s nothing to be done about that now. What I’m trying to say is that I understand Caroline.” She nodded. Nik had been there, the helpless child who was constantly put down, mocked and degraded. She could still see it in his face. After all these centuries, it still weighed him down.

“It never goes away, does it?” she whispered, suddenly squeezing his hand as hard as she could.

“Not entirely. But you will get past it, Caroline.”

“I don’t see how,” Caroline said her voice thick with tears.

“Time may not heal, but it helps to forget. In a few decades he will be gone. For good.” Thinking about her father’s death should have made Caroline sad, but it made her feel less anxious. She would be rid of him. And she swore to herself, that she would never see him again.

“How could he do this to me?” She didn’t even bother to wipe the tears from her face. Nik felt safe. He was everything she had wanted to find. She didn’t need to hide herself. He saw her for what she was. And that made Caroline’s chest burst with joy. Nik brought his hands to her face and wiped away the tears away.

“I don’t know, Caroline. The worst things happen to people who have done nothing to deserve it. I’m so sorry you had to be one of those people.” She couldn’t contain herself anymore, so she wrapped her arms around him, and he returned the favor.

“I’m sorry you had to be one of those people too,” she whispered in his ear. The seconds ticked by and Caroline never wanted to let him go. It felt to her that all she had to do was never to let him go and she would be happy forever. Nik’s hand brushed her curls, and their chests rose together as they breathed. The sun was up, and Caroline caught herself wishing that she could start every day like this, wrapped in his arms.

***

Elijah Mikaelson was exhausted, and that was something that couldn’t be said about him often. Five days on a ship and then hours in a train. He got off from the train in the busy Chicago station and couldn’t help but to feel as old as he was.

Ten years. Ten years he had been in a box, put there by the woman he loved more than his life. _Katerina._

Elijah rubbed his forehead and hailed a cab. He did not want to go see Niklaus, but he didn’t have a choice. It had been more than four hundred years. He had left with Katerina, only to lose her. She always swore she loved him, swore it over and over. And she had convinced him that they needed to go their separate ways once in a while so that Niklaus would be less likely to track them down. It had made sense. And what were a couple of decades away from your one true love when her life was on the line? Nothing. Elijah would have done anything for her. _Anything._ He had abandoned his family, everything.

Then she rewarded his love with a decade in a box. Now he was just a shell of the man he was before. Betrayal. It hurt worse than anything. Elijah got off the cab, into the blazing sun, fixed his hat and was ready to face his brother.

***

They had developed an easy routine these past few days. Klaus would paint. Her, most of the time. And she would sit on the sofa, a shawl draped around her shoulders as she would read, sometimes silently, sometimes aloud to him when she found a particular passage of the book funny. At times she would look up from the book, gaze at him and his painting, sigh as she saw herself on the canvas again. And Klaus loved it. The easy way that they acted, like they had known each other for years. Sometimes a voice in his head told him that he was becoming domestic, and it mocked him for it. But he pushed those thoughts away, since he couldn’t think anything better than to spend these lazy spring days with her, discussing art and literature with her. To steal the occasional kiss from her sweet lips and feel how a shiver went down her spine when he caressed her.

Klaus knew they could not go on like this forever. The reality would come knocking, but right now, he allowed this for himself, for her. She deserved to be happy, to smile every day, to laugh and joke. Every time when Klaus though how she hadn’t had that every day of her life broke him a little.   To see her now, laying on the couch, twirling a strand of hair around her finger, biting her lip and humming occasionally as she read her book made Klaus want to keep her like this forever. Every second he spent with her made it more clear to him. He could never let go of her. If he did, it would surely break him.

She frowned and he couldn’t help but to sneak up behind her, rest his chin on her shoulder and sniff in the intoxicating scent that was purely her.

“What are you reading?” he whispered in her ear. A smile was tugging at the corners of her mouth.

“Wuthering Heights,” she replied, marked her spot and closed the book. She turned back to look at him. In one swift move he was sitting right next to her, caressing her hand with his.

“Why would you read that? They are all just a bunch of idiots,” Klaus snickered as he saw Caroline shiver under his touch. He loved seeing her like this.

“You may be right, but it just captures my interest. Heathcliff loves her so much,” she murmured, her eyes on their joined hands.

“Maybe. But look where that got him. First he had to see her married to another man, have his child and then watch her die.” She just shook her head, lifted her feet up on the sofa, now leaning her body against his. She reopened the book and sighed as she read about Heathcliff cursing Cathy on her grave.

“Why do you read these romantic stories where everything ends badly?” Yesterday it had been Romeo and Juliet open in her lap. They had argued about it. Caroline thought it to be the greatest tragedy, and Klaus just thought they were a couple of fools who mistook lust for love.

“Because they have what everyone wants from life, the one true love, the passion, everything. And then life hits them right into the chest and takes everything away from them. That’s life. You don’t get a happy ending. The only thing you can wish for is to get some love and happiness before it all comes crashing down.”

“You deserve a happy ending,” he murmured, his fingers casually grazing through her hair. She let out a joyful laugh.

“Sometimes you just say these things and I forget that you are a very old cynical vampire who eats innocent people for lunch.”

“I’m being serious. You deserve everything that is good in life and wonder what on earth you are doing here with me.”

“Well, I do like to live in luxury, so why would I leave?” Caroline grinned wickedly.

“I knew there had to be a reason,” he grinned right back at her. Caroline grabbed his hand and placed a small kiss on the back of it.

“I really don’t have anywhere else to go, but that’s not why stayed, Nik. I’m here with you because I don’t want to leave. I don’t want to be away from you.” 

Klaus grabbed her chin, turning her face so he could place a sweet openmouthed kiss on her lips. Caroline smiled at him as he pulled away and returned to her book once again. Klaus looked at his painting. It was Caroline. Her face hidden behind a book. He wanted to continue, but her weight against him felt too good to move. Minutes ticked by in silence until Caroline let out a laugh.

“What’s so funny, love?”

“The night we first danced, Elena was going on and on how I should get myself a boyfriend. I don’t think this is what she had in mind,” she chuckled. Klaus couldn’t help but to smile.

“Is that what I am?” He asked laughing.

“I don’t know what you are, or what this is.” They both fell quiet.

“This can be whatever we want it to be, love.” She nodded.

“Let’s just be us.”

“That sounds good.” Klaus wrapped his arms around her, holding her back to his chest.

There was a knock on the door. It was one of the maids.

“There is a man at the door who claims to be your brother.” Klaus sighed and rubbed his forehead.

“Let him in.” Caroline watched as Nik got of the sofa, and saw his face turning from the happy smile to a thoughtful frown.

He had told Caroline earlier that his other brother, Elijah, was about to come to town and he was expecting a visit. It sounded bad, and now that she was looking at Nik, she could tell that it was worse than what she had thought. This man here was not Nik. Not the man who had been laughing with her on the sofa, teasing her about her taste of literature. This was the cold vampire she had seen so many night ago, the man who killed innocents, the man who craved for blood. This was Klaus.

The door opened and a tall dark-haired man stepped in, dressed in s sharp suit, his hat in his hand. He was handsome, but did not look much like Klaus. He looked more like Kol, like Nik and Rebekah looked like each other.

“Niklaus. It’s been too long.” The men did not move closer to each other, only eyed each other from the opposite corners of the study.

“Elijah. Four hundred and thirty-one years if I recall,” Nik said, his voice colder than the night he had forced Caroline to watch him kill the girl.

It was baffling. When Caroline spent time with Nik, he was a man. Not just any man, but still, a man. And moments like these reminded her how old he actually was, how not human he really was. To not have seen one’s own brother in four hundred years…

“Yes, I think you are quite right,” Elijah said, and an awkward silence fell into the room. Caroline felt like she was prying on something.

“Should I leave?” she asked as quietly as she managed, making both men to turn their eyes from each other to her. Nik shook his head.

“No, you can stay, love.” Elijah eyed her curiously, and then turned to look at his brother.

“Aren’t you going to introduce me to the lady?”

“She already knows who you are,” Nik said coldly. Caroline sighed, unsure what to do, but got up from the sofa nevertheless and offered her hand to Elijah. From the corner of her eye she saw Nik tense, but he didn’t try to stop her.

“I’m Caroline, it’s nice to meet you,” she said as she shook his hand. He smiled at her warmly.

“The pleasure is all mine.” Unlike Kol, he was content with only getting her name, and did not try to question why his brother let a human be a part of their first meeting in centuries.

“I believe you came to tell me something.” Nik wasn’t any more relaxed than he had been when Elijah had walked in. Caroline wanted to go to him, to touch his arm, to see his tenseness disappear, but something in his face stopped her.

“Yes. As you may know, I have been spending considerable time with Katerina these past centuries.” Nik rolled his eyes, poured himself some whiskey and turned his back on his brother, his eyes resting on the unfinished painting of Caroline.

“Go on.” Elijah cleared his throat, his eyes sweeping through the room, his gaze fixating on the painting above the fire place. It was of her too, the one from that night. She looked so scared.

“Katerina convinced me that the best way to stay out of your radar was not to spend all of our time together. I agreed. It was smart. If you found me, you would find her. I never suspected her, but I should have.” Nik snorted, still refusing to look at his brother.

“I now realize that she was always searching for a way to get you off her back. And ten years ago she had found what she was looking for. She had found one dagger, ash from the white oak tree, and before I knew it, I was daggered in a box. A week ago a boy came and pulled the dagger from my heart. He gave me a note and his blood. She had sent him of course.”

“What did the note say?” Nik murmured.

“ _Dear Elijah. I hope you will find it in you to forgive me. I do love you, but I do not love you more than my own life. You will understand that this was necessary. I have no intentions being chased around the world by your brother for the end of days. I’m really doing this for us. When you read this, I will be thousands of miles away, and if things go as planned, you will have been dead to the world only a few years. If you know what’s good for you, you will go to your brother when you wake up. Tell him I have something he wants. Something that would be very harmful for him, for all of your siblings. And I am willing to trade my freedom for it. Or I could just give it to Mikael. Your move, Klaus. All my love, Katerina.”_ Elijah tucked the piece of paper back to his pocket. Caroline’s heart broke for him. He clearly still loved her so much, and to be betrayed like that by the one you loved…

“Do you know what it is, this thing she has?” Elijah shook his head at his question.

“But I’m guessing we find out soon enough. I’m willing to bet she’s here in Chicago, or somewhere close.” A silence fell between the brothers once again.

“Nik, I hope that you find it in yourself to forgive me. I know that after Tatia we were never in the best of terms, but I do regret that I wrecked our relationship further and chose Katerina before you. I see now that I should not have done that. Please, brother. I ask for you to forgive me.” Nik finally turned around to look at his brother.

“Forever and always. That’s what we said, _brother._ ”

“You must understand, I love her. _Loved_ her.”

“I don’t have to understand anything. You betrayed me!” he shouted the last words. A shiver ran through Caroline’s spine. She didn’t like seeing him like this. She knew the beast was right under his skin. She knew, but sometimes she could not believe it.

“Kol told me everything, Niklaus. How you have changed. How Caroline changed you.”

“Don’t you dare talk about her! She is nothing like Katerina.”

“But I never saw Katerina for what she truly was. For that I am sorry. I was blinded by love. And I hope that you will see that. I wish that our family could be together after all these years. I would love nothing more than to sit down with you and Rebekah and Kol.”

“You should leave now,” Nik growled.

“Very well. I will give you a few days, but then we will have to discuss this issue at hand. I hope we can be civil about it.” Elijah said his good byes to Caroline and left.

Nik was still standing, trembling with anger. Caroline didn’t know what to do. She had never seen him like this.

“I’m sorry you had to see that. But I trust myself more to not to do anything stupid when you’re here with me,” he whispered and finally turned his eyes to her.  

“It’s okay, Nik,” she said and reached for his hand. He allowed her to take it and took a seat next to her.

“I was so angry for him, for ruining my plans to break the curse. But that’s not the worst thing. He left us. Me, Rebekah and Kol. For some viscous woman. Forever and always. That’s what he promised. Love is a vampire’s greatest weakness,” he mumbled and leaned his head against Caroline’s shoulder. She hated to see him suffer, but she was also glad. He was letting her in.

“Nik, we can’t choose who we love. We may try not to love, but life doesn’t really work like that. We’re not alone in this world, and sometimes life just takes us where it wants, it doesn’t ask if we want it or not. I understand that you feel betrayed, but it’s not your brother’s fault he fell in love with the wrong woman.”

Suddenly he was up on his feet, so quickly that Caroline didn’t even see him move at all.

“You know nothing, Caroline. You don’t know my brother, you don’t know me,” he suddenly said, with such venom in his voice. It was felt like someone had stabbed a knife in her heart. Caroline felt like crying, but as she often did, she disguised her hurt as anger.

“What do you think I have been trying to do these past weeks?! Do you think I’m here because it’s fun? I’m here because I feel something for you, and I want to figure it all out. I try to be compassioned, to understand you, who you are and how you came to be like this. I overlook the fact that you’re a ruthless killer. I ignore the fact that I have never ever been as scared as I was that night when you killed that girl. Ever. Do you realize that I feared you more than I feared my father, and here I am, trying to get to know you, to show you that I care! And what do you give me? You turn on me when I try to help. Thanks a lot, _Klaus.”_

Caroline saw his face twist from anger to regret, but she didn’t care. She was mad, so so mad.

“Caroline, please –“ he started, but she’d had it. She turned her back on him and he did not try to stop her. She could feel his eyes on her back as she walked away from him. Tears filled her eyes. She heard a glass crushing to a wall.

Is this how it ends, Caroline wondered to herself as she locked her bedroom door and sat on the floor, the tears running down her face. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: So, what did you think? This was supposed to be fluffy, and look what happened. Oh well. Please leave a comment or kudos! :)


	12. Why did you choose to lean on a man you knew was falling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing. I wish I did.  
> AN: Sooo, this took longer than expected, but due to the disaster that was the pregnancy plot in 4x20. I just didn’t have the motivation to write.  
> I do not like to make long ANs, so here’s a link to some headcanon of mine about how the Originals and Tatia ended up in the New World. Perhaps some relevance for the plot
> 
> http://saltycrow.tumblr.com/post/49381454112/my-headcanon-concerning-the-originals-as-reference
> 
> Thank you all for the reviews! You’re awesome.  
> xoxo,  
> saltyrcrow

Klaus grabbed everything he could. The glasses crashed against the walls. The sofa was in a million pieces. The copy of Wuthering Heights collided with the window, the speed of the impact shattering the glass. He felt like screaming, like breaking everything, loosing himself in his anger. He wanted to kill, to get rid of his feelings. In the midst of his anger his eyes found the painting. Caroline was so scared. Right now she was angry. But he had promised himself he would not hurt her again. And now he had failed. Her words slashed him like a whip. _Do you realize that I feared you more than I feared my father?_ Her voice kept echoing in his mind.

He wanted to lash out. To go on a binge. To do anything to get rid of this feeling. This feeling that he was a disappointment. This feeling that he could bring Caroline nothing more than pain.

He wanted to drink himself into oblivion. Wanted to forget all about Caroline, the hurt in her eyes. But all he could think was her back turned to him, walking away. That sight made him stop in his tracks. To think twice. Most of his life he had avoided to feel anything for anyone. Now he had just stumbled into this human who made him want to feel. Watching her walk away hurt. Hurt more than Elijah’s betrayal. The moment when Caroline had opened her mouth after he had lashed out on her made him regret his actions. And Klaus did not do regret.

He wanted to resent her, to be hurt that she walked out on him. And he was hurt, but for the first time in his life he looked into the mirror and saw that it was his fault. He made her walk away. And now he could hear her crying in her room. He knew what he had to do. He had to go and apologize. Klaus did not move, it was as if he had grown roots.

He looked around the study. He had destroyed most of it. Klaus walked to the broken window and gazed down on the street, the book lying on the sidewalk. A wave of regret washed over him as he thought of Caroline sitting on the couch, enjoying the book. She had looked so happy. But now the accusing stare had imprinted on his eyes and no matter how hard he tried, he could not forget the way she had looked.

He needed to make it up to her. But nine hundred years of deeply rooted habits were starting to take over. He summoned a maid, sat her down on his lap while he sat on the one unbroken chair left in the study, lifted her hair and sunk his fangs into her.

 

***

Caroline sat her back against the door, crying uncontrollably. She hated herself for shedding tears because of him. She hated herself for tricking herself into thinking it could work, that he actually cared and wanted to be with her.

Why did she have to feel something for him? It was crazy. It made no sense. But every time she looked at him, saw those grey eyes smiling at her, her heart fluttered and she never wanted to turn her eyes away from him. She wasn’t supposed to feel anything for him. He was so _wrong._ Caroline wished she had ran. That she had never come to him that night. She didn’t want to feel like this.

 But that wasn’t entirely true. She was just fooling herself. The past weeks with him might have been a rollercoaster ride, but the days she had spent with him had been the best days of her entire life. Caroline had felt more alive than ever.

Caroline didn’t really know how long she stayed in her room. She never even had lunch. Her stomach was protesting due to the lack of nourishment, but she ignored it. He was the one who should be apologizing to her. He should have come looking for her. Caroline stayed near the door, listening, but she heard nothing. She wanted him to say sorry, to make it all up to her. And she would have forgiven him, hugged him and told him that she cared, and she didn’t side with Elijah to spite him, but to bring him and his brother closer.

But he never came. Hours rolled by. Nothing. Caroline tried to distract herself by going through her aunt’s journals, but she could not concentrate. Her mind was filled with images of Nik’s venomous eyes when he told her that she knew nothing about him. And yes, perhaps he was right. Caroline wanted to know more, wanted to become a part of his life, but he wouldn’t let her.

There was a knock on the door. Caroline jumped. _Nik_ , she thought.

“Caroline, it’s Rebekah. May I please come in?” Caroline’s heart sank.

“Of course, come in!” The beautiful blonde girl appeared to her room, dressed for the night out. She smiled meekly at Rebekah who looked at her with concern written across her face.

“Are you alright, Caroline?” Caroline nodded and tried on a more genuine smile. “I know you had an argument with Nik.”

“Indeed, I had a fight with him,” she murmured, glancing at her reflection, disgusted to see her eyes red and dried tears all across her face.

“Caroline, I know you feel like crap right now, but you can’t let him bring you down. He’s an ass, has been ever since he was born. He’s been changing a lot since he met you, but he’s still the same jackass he was when we first turned. And he’s probably never going to get completely rid of that. He hurt you, but that doesn’t mean you need to keep dwelling on it here. Come with me and Stefan. Let’s have some fun,” she smiled.

“I don’t really feel like having fun.”

“If you’re waiting for him to apologize, you may have to keep sulking for days. Being here alone is no good. You can still be angry with him. Hell, you _need_ to be angry with him.

You know, I never had any sisters. Just five brothers. I wanted a sister so badly. I love all my brothers dearly, but I longed for female company near my own age. The village we lived in was so small, and I didn’t really have any friends. I prayed the gods to give me a sister, but they never did. You can imagine my disappointment when Henrik was born. I wanted him to be a girl so badly. But, the gods only graced me with brothers.

When I got older, I longed for the day my brothers would get married and I would get five sisters. Finn found Sage, but she never had any interest in me. Henrik would never have a wife, and Nik and Elijah ended up fighting over Tatia. After she died it took years and years to patch things up between my brothers. Nik never showed any romantic interest after her, not until you came along. Then Elijah ripped everything apart because of Katerina. And Kol… he met Nasya. And you know how that ended up,” Rebekah said, and all Caroline could think was girls with their hearts ripped out of their chests.

She wanted to ask about this Nasya, but this didn’t seem to be the time.

“What I’m trying to say that I haven’t really had that many female companions during these last 900 years, and I like you Caroline. I know Nik adores you. You are fast becoming something he won’t be able to live without. And if you two won’t be able to live without one other, I’m guessing these arguments will occur more often than not. And I want you to be able to come to me. I know you chose to become a vampire, but it can be very lonely to do so alone. And Nik might not always be there. I want to be there for you. I am confident that you will be my sister.”

Rebekah smiled so widely, but the only thing Caroline could do was to stare at her openmouthed

“I just had a fight with your brother and I have been crying my eyes out for hours, and then you come in and tell me that you are certain I will be your sister. Okay,” Caroline murmured. Bekah laughed happily and clasped Caroline’s hand.

“Nik is an idiot. I saw his study. It’s completely destroyed. He’s mad at himself. But he doesn’t know how to suck up his pride and beg for your forgiveness. Believe me; you will be in for a hell of an emotional rollercoaster ride if you decide to stay with Nik. But in the meanwhile, how about some drinks at the Inn?”

Rebekah smirked, and Caroline couldn’t help but to smirk back.

“Deal.”¨

***

Drinks were flowing. Everything was funny. Everyone was beautiful. Rebekah’s laughter filled the room, and Stefan’s teeth were so white it almost felt like they could blind Caroline.

“And then I broke his arms and told him to go fuck himself!” Rebekah said and lifted her champagne glass to clink it with Caroline’s. She howled with laughter.

“I’m so glad you made me come here!” Caroline almost yelled, the alcohol robbing her of control. But she was loving it. Like flinging yourself of the edge, giving up all control.

“You need to forget my pathetic excuse of a brother for a day. We need to dance!”

“But I don’t have anyone to dance with!” Rebekah laughed and grabbed the first good looking young man.

“My friend would like a dance,” she said. The man was handsome, but then again, everyone seemed handsome to Caroline at the moment.

“With pleasure,” he said and led her to the dance floor. Caroline stumbled in her heels and grabbed the man harder than was necessary. But he just smiled and danced her around the room. She was too drunk to care about anything. Too drunk to really notice that she was now dancing with Stefan instead of that stranger.

“You’re so charming that sometimes I forget all about your homicidal tendencies,” she slurred at him. Stefan let out a merry laugh. She laughed with him, even though she didn’t really know why she was laughing.

“You seem to forget that the man you are currently living with has these same homicidal tendencies.” Caroline shook her head.

“No, you’re not the same. You’re scarier. I was so scared of you the first time I met you. You’re so _cold._ ”

“You’re either brave or dumb saying those things to a hungry vampire with his emotions turned off.” She laughed.

“You would never lay a hand on me, Stefan. You know it, and I know it. You’d lose your head.”

“You are awfully confident that he cares for you.”

“I can feel it,” she whispered and then found herself sitting back at their table. 

“I’m glad I’ll be able to get drunk even when I turn. This is too much fun to give up,” Caroline said and downed another drink. Rebekah and Stefan laughed together.

“It’s a lot harder for a vampire, though. Are you going to be turned soon?” Caroline shrugged.

“Nik told me to take a month to consider it. But right now it doesn’t seem likely he will want to do it.”

“If he won’t do it, then I will,” Rebekah promised.

“Thank you.”

“He would not take it well, but I’ve taken a liking of you, Caroline. You’re too good to be left to die in half a century.”

She was just about to thank her for her kind words, when suddenly a figure was hovering over her, and boy did he look angry.

“What are you doing here?” he hissed. Rebekah was about to protest, but Caroline got there first.

“Why, Nik, we’re having fun,” she smiled, making him frown even more.

“Bekah, you know it’s not safe,” he barked at his sister.

“You know what, Nik? I wanted to come, so here I am,” Caroline hissed, her happiness fading. He finally looked at her. He was angry, and he smelt of alcohol and blood.

“Come on, Caroline. Let’s get you to bed.” Now she was seeing red.

“Don’t talk to me like I am a child! I had a horrible day, thanks to you, and then your sister kindly offered to take me out to take my mind off it, and now you come barging in. You are not the boss of me Niklaus Mikaelson. I do whatever the fuck I want, and you may not like it, but I will do it anyway. Because that’s what I need to do, that’s what I want to do.”

“I -“, he started, but she was having none of it.

“No, you listen to me. I’ve been denied fun all my life. Now I am actually free from my father, and I won’t be bossed around by another man! If I want to have fun, I will have fun. This is my life, Nik! You make me feel like a worthless piece of crap and now you try to tell me what I can and cannot do. I don’t think so. If I put myself in danger, that is my choice. And you won’t take away my choice. No.”

He placed his hand on hers and squeezed. She couldn’t quite read the emotion in his eyes, probably because of all the drinking.

“I get it. Caroline, but won’t you come with me to some place more quiet to discuss this?”

“Fine, I need a cigarette anyway.” And so he led her to the alley. Where he had killed the girl, where he had kissed her, taken her blood. Both memories made Caroline shudder, but in two distinctly different ways.

“Caroline, I- I am sorry. For everything. It’s so hard not to fall back into the same patterns. And when you tried to make me understand Elijah’s side, I felt like you were siding with him, not me, and I just felt like you had slapped me across the face. I’m so sorry I made you cry. I’m sorry that I made you fear me more than your father. Not a day goes by without me regretting the fact that I made you so scared, that I hurt you so much. I want you to be able to trust me.”

Caroline sighed and inhaled the smoke from her cigarette. He was being sincere, she knew it. She could now see it clearly in his face.

“Trust needs to be earned, Nik. How will I ever be able to trust you if you lash out on me like that every time I say something you don’t like?” Nik rubbed his forehead. His anxiety was clearly visible in his face. She wanted to touch it, but she didn’t. She needed him to think this through. Her anger had faded. She did not feel the hatred towards herself like she had earlier. She _knew_ he cared. She saw it. She felt it, in every touch, in every look he gave her.

“I know. I know, Caroline. It’s hard. You deserve better, better than what I can give you.” She sighed and dropped the cigarette.

“It’s not about what I deserve. You have this crazy notion in your head that I deserve someone else, someone better than you. But it’s about what I want. I don’t need or deserve anything else. This is my choice. I choose who I want to be with.  And it seems that I have for some absurd reason chosen to be with you. But I need to trust you. I need to know that you won’t just go off on me.”

“I know I need to change for you,” Nik said, but Caroline shook her head.

“No, You can’t change for me. You will only grow to resent me for it. You need to do it for you.” He was quiet for a while. Then he lifted his grey eyes to catch her blue ones. They were filled with pain, understanding, even acceptance.

“You’re right. But you do bring out the good in me, the _human_ in me.”

“See, that’s not changing for me. That’s who you’ve always been, Nik. Maybe meeting me just brought up those feelings in you, but if you wish to get over your insecurities, do it for yourself. I need to do that too, so that I will be the person _I_ want me to be.”

“I’m sorry I didn’t come and apologize sooner. I knew I needed to. I hate seeing you sad.” She smiled at him. He did care. Now he just needed to show it.

“And I’m sorry I walked away from the situation.”

“And I’m sorry that I threw your copy of Wuthering Heights out of the window.”

“Nik, that was your copy,” she laughed.

“It was more yours than mine. I never read that copy, I didn’t even like the book. But don’t worry, I’ll get you a new one,” he promised. He smiled, but didn’t dare to touch her.

“You don’t need to give me anything, Nik. All I want is you, for an eternity,” she whispered and took a step closer to him. So close she could feel his breath on her. He finally raised his hand and cupped her cheek.

“But I want to give you everything, Caroline.”

“And you will, just by being there for me.” He reached in and placed a tender kiss on her cheek.

“If I ever leave you, I shall resent myself for the rest of the eternity.”

“Then don’t ever leave me,” she murmured, pulling himself closer by his collar. He wrapped his arms around her waist. Caroline’s knees felt weak, and it had nothing to do with the alcohol.

“I won’t.”

***

Katherine Pierce had not been born yesterday. In fact she had been born on June Fifth, 1473 and her name had been Katerina Petrova. She had never had an easy life. Not that she would ever complain. But being chased by and Original Vampire for the last four hundred years took its toll.

As said, she was not born yesterday, and she knew a thing or two about staying alive. It was what she did best; Klaus had made sure of that. So when the opportunity to get free of him represented itself, she didn’t hesitate. Daggering Elijah was a small price to pay for her freedom. She was sure he would understand it. Right now he might feel hurt, but as soon as he got her back in his arms, all would be forgotten.

Katherine had been living in the shadows so long, and tonight was no exception. If she didn’t wish to be seen, she certainly wouldn’t be seen. Right now she was witnessing an event she had not thought to see in her lifetime.

Niklaus Mikaelson, practically professing his love for a _human._

“If I ever leave you, I shall resent myself for the rest of the eternity,” he said, making the blonde girls face light up like the freaking sun itself. As much as this scene unraveling right before her made her want to puke, she knew it was good. Something she could use.

Humans were always a liability and it had been a long time since Klaus had had a weakness. Katherine’s plan A was already in motion, but she would have never survived thins long if she didn’t also have plans B, C, D and E. And this girl would conveniently prove to be her plan F.

Now all she had to do was wait.

***

Klaus couldn’t sleep. He knew he should be happy, Caroline had forgiven him. Had blatantly told him that she wanted to be with him forever. But he couldn’t shake the feeling that all too soon all this would come crumbling down. First Rebekah letting Kol out, then all this business with Elijah and Katerina. He knew all this would not end well.

He should be fleeing. But he just couldn’t part with this city. Couldn’t ask Caroline to forget her friends and mother already. She would have to do it sooner or later, but he wanted her to be happy, and he was sure that ‘later’ would make her happy. And right now, Caroline’s happiness was a priority. He was willing to make sacrifices to see a smile on her face. So he dialed.

“Elijah? It’s time to bury the hatchet. Family dinner on Friday evening. Looking forward to it, brother.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: What did you think? Please leave a comment! They always cheer me up and make me write faster.


	13. We were born with nothing and we sure as hell have nothing now

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.
> 
> AN: Thank you so much for your awesome feedback! I hope you'll enjoy this chapter.

She had watched Nik acting oddly the whole Friday afternoon. His family was coming over for dinner. Caroline didn’t know what her part was in all this. It was a family dinner, so she didn’t expect to participate. Was she to just sit in her room? She wanted to ask, but Nik looked so on edge that she didn’t want to bother him with her musings. Caroline had dressed accordingly though, just in case.

The apologies they had exchanged had patched things up with them, but they were still not back to normal. They hadn’t even shared a kiss. Nik seemed to be avoiding her, and she wanted to ask about it, but more than that she wanted him to be able to trust her enough to share his worries. She assumed it was because of this family dinner.

It was eight o’clock when Bekah came barging in.

“I still can’t believe you’re actually doing this, Nik,” she said, smiling happily. Caroline didn’t know Rebekah all that well yet, but she could see that family was the most important thing in her life. She had stick with Nik after all, through thick and thin.

Nik just ignored his sister and kept drinking his whiskey. Rebekah took a seat next to Caroline. Nik avoided looking either of them. The door swung open and both Kol and Elijah walked in. Nik stood up faster than Caroline’s eyes could see. Everyone was looking tense, and no one said a word. Caroline felt like she was in the wrong place.

“I should leave you to it,” she murmured, and stood up to leave. Finally Nik turned his eyes to her and he shook his head.

“Please stay,” he asked. She nodded and sat herself down, smiling on the inside. This was a family dinner after all, and he was asking her to stay.

“Well, now that that’s settled, can we get to it? I was promised dinner,” Kol said with a smirk. Elijah had yet to say a word. His eyes kept darting between Nik and Caroline. Nik grunted and led them to the dining room. Before he took his place at the end of the table, he drew Caroline her chair on his right hand side. Caroline could see Elijah frown at the gesture. Or was it because of where he was seating her?

Rebekah quickly took a seat next to her, and Caroline smiled at her gratefully. She just wasn’t comfortable around the other Mikaelson brothers. Kol took the seat from across her, and Elijah sat himself to the farthest corner, well away from Nik.

“It’s been too long since we sat together as a family,” Nik finally said, making Kol snort into his glass of wine.

“As if that was our choice. _I_ didn’t keep any of you locked in a damn coffin for two hundred years.” Nik looked grim as his eyes rested on Kol.

“You didn’t give me much choice, _brother._ You lost it completely after that whole Nasya fiasco in Russia. You were a liability.” Rebekah just stared at a painting on the wall, and Elijah tried to hide his interest in Nik’s words. If Kol had been in a coffin for the past two centuries, Elijah had no idea what had been going on in Russia before Nik staked Kol. The look on his face that he tried so hard to hide showed Caroline that he had missed his family so very much. He was regretting his choices, choosing Katerina. She felt bad for him. Nik could be a stubborn ass, and it had probably been very difficult for Elijah to leave his family behind, knowing that his brother would hate him for it, perhaps for all eternity.

“There’s no need to dwell in the past, brothers. How about we talk about the matter in hand? Anyone still remember that Katerina is loose in the city and we have no idea what she’s up to?” Rebekah said as the maids brought their appetizers to the table.

“Yes, Elijah, you know her the best. How about you tell us about your thoughts in all this?” Nik asked, still not looking at his brother. His eyes were on her instead. His hand was suddenly on her knee. Caroline looked up to his eyes and found herself unable to look away. It looked like he was in agony and the only thing that could save him was her. Caroline found his hand under the table and squeezed it, trying to tell him without words that everything was going to be okay. He would have his family back.

“Well, I am willing to bet that she has been following you around for a while now. She is a firm believer in keeping her friends close but her enemies even closer. I do not mean to offend you, Niklaus, but I do not think you will be able to find her. She is an expert in hiding. She will probably contact you soon. She likes to do things on her own terms.”

“But if she’s been following Nik, she must know about Caroline,” Rebekah said, her voice filled with worry. It warmed Caroline’s heart.

“Yes, I would think so. And her being human is certainly something Katerina would not hesitate to use against you, Niklaus,” Elijah warned.

“Just turn her and get it over with,” Kol said with his mouth full of food.

“She will be turned whenever _she_ wishes it,” Nik hissed, his grip of her knee tightening. His eyes flashed red.

“Nik, I know you told me to take a month, but I don’t really need a month,” she said, the red in his eyes still visible.

“Even if I turned you right now, a new born vampire is almost as much as a liability as a human, love. You won’t be able to control yourself and if you do not wish to go on a rampage, you will need looking after.” Caroline swallowed. She did not like to think herself unable to control her cravings. Caroline needed control. She thrived on it. But it was a sacrifice she was willing to make. For the power, for the strength, for the forever.

“More reason to do it quickly. Not all baby vamps go on a sick killing spree, you know, Nik. I’ve turned a few who were pretty much in control of themselves right from the beginning. And if she will go on a spree, the faster she does it, the better,” Kol said. Nik rubbed his forehead angrily.

“This is Caroline’s decision, so shut the hell up,” he said quietly.

“Exactly, Nik. It’s _her_ decision. Can’t you see that she wants this? When you had your stupid fight with her she was scared that you would not turn her, and I had to promise that I would do it if you continued to be an ass. You didn’t see her then. She wants this, _needs_ this.” Rebekah somehow always managed to find the right words.

“It makes no difference if it’s going to be a week from now, or in a month. I have nothing left for me in the world of humans. My mother is going to die soon. My friends have pretty much abandoned me because of what I want. _I have nothing, Nik._ And I want it all,” she whispered, and for a moment she could forget that all his un-staked siblings were staring at them. He held her gaze for a long while.

“I will give you _everything_ you want, Caroline. You know that.” She heard Kol snickered at his brother’s words, but she did not mind him. She wanted to savor these moments with Nik. The moments when he looked at her like nothing in this whole wide world was more important to him that her happiness.

“Then give me this,” she whispered. His hand grabbed hers under the table and suddenly he brought her hand to his mouth, kissed it and continued holding it.

“Just say when,” he promised. Of course the moment was shattered when Kol had to open his mouth.

“He must be changeling, because the Nik I knew didn’t do _this,”_ he said and pointed at them. 

“Shut it, Kol. Or you’ll spend the next two centuries in a coffin as well,” Nik grunted, still not looking away from Caroline. Kol lifted his hands up as a sign of surrender.

“Just telling it as I see it, brother. Not that I blame you, she is exquisite.”

“Shut up, Kol!” Nik, Rebekah and Caroline shouted at him all at once. Kol just laughed and kept eating. No one else really touched their dinners.

“The dessert shall be served in the salon,” a pretty maid announced, and it seemed like no one else than Caroline saw her. Would she be like that one day? Would she just ignore humans unless she meant to take their blood? She decided she wouldn’t be like that. When she would become a vampire, she would still be herself. It would not change who she was. Or would it?

***

When Rebekah had realized that her brother was in love with Caroline (not that he would admit to it), she had been jealous. Nik had never wanted this. All he had ever wanted was to break the stupid hybrid curse, make himself an army and kill Mikael. He’d never had any interest in settling down with someone. He thought love was a vampire’s greatest weakness, and there he was, sitting as close to Caroline as he possibly could without actually sitting _on_ her.

 _She_ had always wanted that. Someone who would love her just as she was, the good and the bad in her. Someone to share this depressing eternity with. Sure, she had fallen in love more times than she could count, but she now recognized how shallow her feelings had been. Stefan was something new, something exciting, but he did not love her. Probably never would. He was fun, she enjoyed him, but she could not see herself establishing a stable future with the Ripper.

And that was why she had looked at Caroline and Nik with such envy. Nik might not think so, but where Rebekah was concerned, he’s got it all. She desperately wanted the same, she wanted someone to sit by her, promising to give her anything and everything she ever wanted. She wanted someone to look at her like Nik and Caroline looked at each other.

They sat next to each other, but Nik was constantly touching her, her hand, her knee. They never kissed, but somehow watching this was more intimate. Rebekah wanted to look away, but she couldn’t, she felt like she was intruding on a very personal moment, but she was held captive by the beauty of it. Two people, head over heels in love with each other.

 She loved her brother dearly, and he deserved some happiness in his life, and Caroline was just that. She made her brother smile. It had been so long since he had been truly happy.

Even though it made Rebekah happy to see him like that, it also worried her. It worried her how easily Caroline could be taken away from him, and if that happened, what would happen to her brother? Nik had never dealt with loss in ways that would be considered healthy.

“I’m still having hard time believing that our brother is _in love_ ,” Kol whispered in her ear, but loudly enough for Nik to hear. He ignored it though, his attention never leaving Caroline, who was trying to have a conversation with Elijah about his travels all over Europe.

“At least Caroline is a good person. She’s actually really nice. I like her.”

“Who cares if she’s nice now? A decade with our dear brother and she will be just as corrupt as he is.” Rebekah frowned at Kol’s words, but his concern was a real one. Rebekah had enjoyed seeing the change in her brother, and she worried that if Caroline’s humanity was the thing that caused that change, then perhaps Caroline losing her humanity would set Nik right back to where he started, or worse.

“Just minutes ago you were arguing that she could actually be able to control herself.”

“She needs to turn, the faster the better. And I was not lying. I have seen vampires being in control of themselves right from the beginning. And I do believe that she will be one of those vampires. But I don’t think she will be able to cling to her humanity if she continues spending time with him. He’s too old, too set in his ways. She’s so young, and even if she’s suffered, she doesn’t truly know how cruel this world it. She will lose it, mark my words.”

***

Klaus looked at Elijah with conflicted feelings. He had taken him aside to change words with him. He knew that making peace with Elijah would probably prove to be an advantage, but Klaus was a proud man and he did not easily swallow his pride. Yes, Elijah had apologized over and over again; even now he was trying to apologize. And deep down he wanted to forgive him. Family was his number one priority, and he was his brother even after all that had gone down between them. Tatia, Katerina…

“I am truly sorry, Niklaus. Not a day went by when I did not wish to be there with you, Rebekah, Kol.”

“You could have been there for us, but you chose otherwise.” He was trying to keep his bitter thoughts at bay.

“I did what I thought was my only choice. If you would have been in my situation, wouldn’t you have chosen the same course? If Caroline was forced to run from me for the rest of her life, would you just have abandoned her, leaving her to die?”

Klaus rubbed his forehead. He thought of Caroline telling him that it had not been Elijah’s fault, that he had simply fallen for the wrong woman. And now that he considered it… Caroline was everything. His world. He wouldn’t have hesitated. He would have abandoned everything. For her.

He didn’t answer to Elijah. His brother didn’t press the matter any further. He probably could see it on Klaus, the realization. That there could be someone who changed everything. Someone you could do anything for, kill, run, and abandon your family…

“I will forgive you. I need you, you are my brother. And Katerina poses a threat, you know her better than anyone. We need to be a family again,” Klaus said, even though it pained him, to let go of his resentment towards Elijah, towards his betrayal. But he was his brother after all, and family was all he had in this world. And Caroline.

“I’m glad, brother. Glad that you could forgive me, glad that we are all together. Glad that you found someone worth adding to our family,” Elijah said with a smile.

“Caroline is not – She’s –,” Klaus stuttered, trying to find the words, but nothing really suited. What was she to him? All he knew that she meant more to him than anything else.

“She sits on your right hand side on a family dinner. What else she would be if not family?”

The truth was that she was so much more.

***

 

His siblings had finally taken their leave and now he had Caroline all to himself. The study had been redecorated, the windows had been replaced, and a first edition of Wuthering Heights was left on the coffee table.

Caroline walked to it and slid her hand across the cover. She sighed, and opened it.

“This must have cost a fortune,” she mumbled. Klaus walked to her, placing his hand on her shoulder.

“I’ve told you a thousand times, I want to give you everything” Caroline turned to face him.

“Thank you,” she finally said.

“You know you don’t have to do anything you don’t want to, right? I know my siblings can be a bit persuasive, but if you don’t want me to change you at all, or so soon, just let me know.” Caroline nodded with a smile.

“Your siblings were right. There is no point in waiting. What would I gain from another month of being human?”

“It’s your choice.” She touched his arm and pulled him closer to her, and he happily obliged. Nothing was better than feeling her close to him. She wrapped her arms around his waist, and he mimicked her movements. Her chin was titled, just waiting for his lips to meet hers. He sighed happily and captured her mouth. She tasted like champagne, cigarettes, and just Caroline. The kiss was sweet, and he could feel Caroline smiling against his lips.

He didn’t pull away from her, but he placed his lips against her forehead. She was breathing more heavily than normally. Her chest was pressed hard against his, and he could feel her heart racing.

“Is everything okay, love?” Caroline’s teeth nibbled his neck, her heart racing faster and faster. It made Klaus hungry.

“I want you to turn me, soon,” she whispered against his neck. She placed a small kiss there, making shivers run down his spine. He had no control over himself when he was with her. She made him feel things, and right now he was feeling highly aroused.

“How soon?” he asked, his hands roaming all over her body.

“Tonight.” His hands stopped at once. Caroline didn’t move away from him, instead she gently bit his neck.

“Are you sure? This is what you want?”

“Yes.” Her breath was hot against his neck, her heart still beating wildly. “There’s just one thing I would ask of you before you turn me.”

“Anything, love. Anything.”

“I want one last human experience. I want you to have sex with me.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: I know! Cliffhanger and all. But hey, sex in the next chapter, whaaaaat. Please tell me what you think. Comments and kudos are so very much appreaciated!


	14. I let the dark get into the sun

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Disclaimer: I own nothing.  
> AN: Thank you so much for the kudos! I hope you'll like this.  
> Warning: This chapter contains adult content.

Caroline couldn’t help but to blush as she rested her face against Nik’s neck and whispered her wish. Her heart was beating so fast, she was nervous, but excited. Nik always promised to give her everything she wanted.

He didn’t say anything for a while, so she finally pulled back so she could see his face.

He was smiling at her, those grey eyes looking at her with hunger. She tried not to blush, but his stare was so filled with, so full of promise what was to come.

“I’ve told you a hundred times, I will give you anything you want, and all you have to do is ask,” he murmured, his hands roaming on her back, his left slipping to gently grab her behind.

“Then what are you waiting for?” she asked daringly, the lustful look in her eyes encouraging her. And she didn’t have to ask again. His mouth came down to meet hers.

He kissed her like he had never before; his mouth was roughly against her, his tongue playing with hers. Caroline let out an involuntary moan. He tasted like whiskey, and his roaming hands made Caroline’s stomach jolt with excitement.

One moment her feet were firmly on the ground, then suddenly he lifted her up from her waist. She wrapped her legs automatically around him, their lips never breaking contact.

Suddenly she felt him moving with his vampire speed. Caroline let out a little shriek, and she could feel Nik smiling against her mouth.

In a matter of seconds they were in a room that Caroline had never seen. Nik walked to the giant four poster bed, and let Caroline fall down on in. The room was bigger than hers, but it was decorated in a similar fashion.

“I’ve never been to your room,” Caroline said, already missing and craving for his touch. He chuckled and stepped closer to Caroline.

“It’s about time you did, don’t you agree?” he murmured. His hand came to rest on her thigh, moving her dress up so that the only thing between their skins was Caroline’s stockings.

Caroline shivered; his touch was causing an all too familiar sensation below her navel. Before she could even think about what she was doing, she put her hand on Nik’s and moved it up so his fingers met with the edge of the stockings. He smiled at her, and just for a second she could see his eyes flash red.

He didn’t hesitate and removed the stocking. Caroline shivered with excitement, but also because she was nervous.

“Don’t worry, love. I promise to make it worth your while,” he murmured, his hands already working on the other stocking. When her stockings were removed, Nik shrugged off of his jacket and buttoned his shirt open.

Caroline swallowed at the sight of him, only wearing his undershirt, but she did not have time to marvel the sight, since it was soon replaced by even a better one. His hands reach to the hem of his undershirt and there he was, standing in front of her, shirtless, like a god. His chest was pale, but muscular. Not overly so, but it made Caroline want to trail her hands over it and feel the hardness of the muscles underneath. A soft trail of hair led from his navel to his pants, and Caroline felt herself throbbing with want, with _need._

Nik leaned in to place a sweet open mouthed kiss on her mouth, which Caroline returned eagerly. Her hands found his chest and his hands found the zipper of his dress. The dressed dropped to her waist.

Caroline would have thought that being in front of a man wearing only your undergarments would be awkward and embarrassing, but when she saw how he looked at her, she couldn’t help but to felt a little proud. _She_ made him look at her like that, like she was the most beautiful thing in the world, like there were no any other women on the face of the earth. He looked at her like he was dying of thirst and Caroline was his last drop of water.

She stood up, filled with confidence. Her dressed dropped to the ground. His hands found her waist and Caroline shivered, bringing her hands to the front of his trousers. She kept looking at him the whole time it took to unbutton them. He had a small smirk on his lips, and it only grew wider when Caroline’s hand brushed against him. She blushed. Caroline had never seen a man naked, but she’d seen drawings. She might be a virgin, but she knew what went where.

They were finally in equal states of undress when Nik pushed her back down on the bed. She squealed and Nik chuckled at her reaction. He stepped between Caroline’s legs and leaned in to kiss her stomach. The sensation made Caroline whimper and fidget under his touch. In a blink of an eye he was next to her on the bed, covering her neck in kisses, sucking at her sensitive skin. A tension was building between her legs and she wanted desperately to touch herself, but as she was about to move her hands down, he caught her hand.

“Not yet,” he murmured, and kept placing kisses all over her upper body. Caroline was about to protest, but as his hands found her breasts she forgot all about it. Suddenly nothing was covering her upper body, and his mouth was around her nipple. Caroline could only make incoherent noises. The throbbing between her legs only got worse and she tried moving her legs and lower body to create some sort of friction.

“Good things come to those who wait, love,” he murmured and pinched her nipple. She hadn’t even realized she’d had her eyes closed until she opened them and stared staright into his grey eyes. His hands left her breasts, moving down to her stomach. His touch was so light, but it made Caroline go into gooseflesh. His hands got teasingly close to her underwear and she could not take it anymore. She needed his touch.

“Please,” she whimpered. There was a sound of fabric tearing, and then she was completely naked. But she didn’t care; the only thing she cared was that he would touch her. And then he did.

His fingers travelled down between her legs. Caroline couldn’t stay still when his fingers found her sweet spot. It felt good, _too good._ Caroline had touched herself there every now and then, but it didn’t even compare to this, his finger gently rubbing her, teasing her.

She bit her lip. She was bursting with want. She needed him to stop teasing. He continued stroking her, his other finger finding her opening, and slipping in. She whimpered at the feeling.

“You like that, love?” he murmured to her ear, but she could not answer, so she only nodded fiercely. He picked up his pace and Caroline was so close… In a few more strokes she tensed and he brought her over the edge. A soft moan escaped her lips.

Her breathing was hitched and her heart was pounding in her chest. A smile appeared on her face.

“Thanks,” she murmured and smiled up at him. He smirked, lust in his eyes.

“Happy to oblige,” he said. Caroline couldn’t help but to stare at the bulge in his underwear.

“Take them off,” she ordered, and so he did. Caroline was speechless. It was a lot _bigger_ than she had though. A sudden worry crossed her mind. 

“Just relax, love,” he said. His hand had found his member. She stared at him, stroking himself. The throbbing between her legs returned.

“Okay, let’s do this,” she said, suddenly nervous, but not because she didn’t want to do this. Because she did. Nik had become something so very important to her, and she wanted to share everything with him, every experience.

Nik rolled on top of her, his fingers finding her sweet spot once again.

“Just relax, love,” he repeated. Caroline drew a deep breath and then she felt him poking at her entrance.

“Breathe,” he whispered as he pushed inside her. Caroline bit her teeth together. It hurt. But not as much as she had expected. The new sensation was odd, but the pain soon turned into a dull ache. His thumb was rubbing her cheek. He had not moved, waiting for Caroline to adjust to him.

“I’m fine,” she said, and wrapped her arms around him. He leaned in to kiss her and started moving slowly.

At first Caroline felt a bit uncomfortable, but as she got used to it, the feeling was not half bad. And then his hand reached between them. Caroline whimpered as he started stroking her. His thrusts started getting faster, more desperate.

His forehead was against hers. He looked at her with such intensity. Caroline wanted to say something, but that look in his eyes, it was something so intimate. She didn’t want to break the moment.

“You’re so beautiful, Caroline,” he murmured to her ear, placing kisses on her throat.

She couldn’t answer, couldn’t make a sound as his finger kept stroking her as he thrust inside her. She hadn’t thought it possible, but she was close to her release once again. She wrapped her legs tightly around his waist, encouraging him to get her there. She tensed, her walls clenching around him. His thrusts grew slower. Caroline was still riding over her wave of pleasure, when he tensed and came inside her.

They both lay there quietly. Nik was still on top of her, still in her.

He placed a kiss on her forehead, then on her mouth. She lingered in the kiss, in the feeling that he was completely hers at that moment. He stroked her hair, looking at her with the same intensity as minutes before. Then he broke their gaze and rolled off her. Something sticky ran down her thighs, but she didn’t care. She didn’t care that she was naked. The only thing that mattered was him. The moment they shared.

Caroline rolled to her side, and Nik mirrored her movements. They were facing each other, and the minutes ticked by. Caroline was so glad that she had never done this before, that she shared this with Nik. As she looked at him, his smile, she really understood how special this experience was, not just to her, but to him too. She couldn’t help but to smile back at him, despite her aching private parts. She was going to be sore.

As if he had read her mind, he bit down on his wrist and offered it to Caroline.

“You’ll heal faster,” he said, but the blood only made her think of tonight. He would turn her. She placed her lips on his wrist and sucked.

With the blood in her system, the ache went away, and her eyelids started closing. She yawned. Caroline hadn’t meant to fall asleep, but she did, with a smile on her face.

***

She woke up an hour later. Nik was still next to her, stroking her hair absent mindedly.

“Hey,” she said her voice coarse. He didn’t say anything, just stared at her. She realized then that they were both very much naked, and that she was completely healed. There was no ache between her legs. It was as if it had never happened. But it had, and Caroline smiled and blushed at the memory.

Caroline edged closer to him, and feeling very daring, she placed her hand on him. He was still hard. The intense look in his eyes turned to one full of lust and need.

“If you don’t stop doing that, I might not be able to control myself, love,” he whispered, his hand grabbing her behind, more roughly than ever before.

“That’s the whole point,” she murmured and nibbled at his earlobe. She needed him again. Now that she had gotten a taste, she needed more.

“Be careful what you wish for,” he mumbled, and suddenly he was no longer next to her, but standing on his knees right on top of her. He grabbed her hand and lifted her up to the same position. His erection was rubbing against her stomach. She bit her lip, trying to ignore her want, but not succeeding.

Suddenly he flipped her around, her back against his chest. Nik’s hands came from behind and found her breasts. He was on her entrance, and without a warning he was inside her. She let out a gasp and a whimper, when his fingers found their place.

His thrusts were slow, painfully slow.

“Faster,” she whimpered, but he ignored her request, continuing to torture her. His hand came up to her jaw, his arm brushing against her breasts. He turned her head so that he could capture her lips.

“You’re perfect, Caroline,” he said, and finally started going faster. Caroline was so close when a thought crossed her mind.

“Do it now, Nik.” He didn’t stop, but she could feel his body tense.

“Now?” he asked, his voice hoarse.

“Yes. Drink from me. Then do it,” Caroline said. He kept thrusting in her, and when his fangs penetrated her skin she fell over the edge. She felt herself getting light headed due to the loss of blood.

Suddenly he removed his mouth from her throat, and himself of her. He stared into her eyes. This was it. This was how she died. She felt no fear. Only euphoria.

“I love you, Caroline,” he whispered, and then everything went dark.

***

Klaus stared into her eyes as he placed his hands on her neck. She didn’t seem to be afraid, but he was. He knew that nothing would happen to her, that she would be okay, but the thought of _killing_ her, made him afraid. He didn’t want to lose her. And as he watched her, the thing that he had been thinking all evening slipped out of his mouth.

“I love you, Caroline,” he whispered, and then snapped her neck. It made a horrific sound, her spine breaking. But it was the quickest way to do it. She wouldn’t have time to feel anything, no pain, nothing.

Caroline’s eyes went dead, the fire in them disappearing. He let go of her and laid her on the bed. He couldn’t look into those empty eyes, so he closed her eyelids. He gazed at her, being so still, her chest not rising from drawing breath. Klaus didn’t even realize he was crying before he felt a tear drop on his arm.

Seeing her dead like that… It shocked him. He knew she was going to wake, but when he looked at her, all he could see the woman he loved, dead.

He stroked her hair, letting the tears roll down his face. Klaus didn’t want to move, but he didn’t want her to wake up naked, confused and overwhelmed. So he fetched her nightgown from her room as quickly as he could, so he could be back with her.

For some reason it seemed important to him to be there with her every second of the way, even though he knew it was useless. She wouldn’t wake up for some time now, and she would have no recollection of this.

But he wanted to be there for her, _needed_ to be there for her. As he slipped Caroline in to her gown his mind wandered to what had happened just minutes ago. Perhaps he had already known it, but had been unable to recognize it in himself, but the moment Caroline looked into her eyes, so exposed under his touch, he realized it. He was in love with her. And he had never felt like this about anyone ever in his entire existence.

Klaus lay down next to her. He rested his hand on hers. She was still warm, but it felt somehow wrong to hold her like this. He had killed more women than he could count, and many like this, after sex. But this was different, so very different. The only thing in his head during their time together tonight had been making Caroline happy. For once in his life he did not care about himself, taking his release. She was all he thought. She had looked happy though, after.

As Caroline lay dead to the world, his thoughts escaped to the first time they had met. How random it all had been. Rebekah hadn’t wanted to go to the Inn, but Stefan had insisted. He wanted his opium, and apparently he had a ‘guy’ working at the Inn. Klaus hadn’t really cared. All he wanted to do was to get wasted and lose himself for a few hours.

And there she had been, struggling to get rid of the man. He really didn’t know why he helped her. Was it even then evident to him that she was something more? Sure, he had planned on indulging on her, but perhaps he had just been fooling himself.

If they hadn’t gone to the Inn that day like Rebekah had wanted, would he ever have met her? That annoyed Klaus to no end. Caroline was _everything._ He had tried to gain control of his life for such a long time, only to find out that he had no control at all. It was all up to chance. It made him irrationally angry. That if they had chosen differently that day, if Stefan hadn’t been so set to partying in his opium induced haze, he would have nothing now.

Sure, if he had never met her, he wouldn’t even know to miss her. But when he thought of himself living in this town, like he used to… His mind wandered to Caroline, also living in this town, unaware of anything supernatural even existing, taking his father’s beatings, getting fed up to putting up with it, leaving, marrying some asshole, having his children… Perhaps that would have been a kinder fate to her. Kol’s words from earlier that night rang in his ears.   _She will lose it, mark my words._

Klaus feared it, feared that Kol was right. Felt a bang of guilt for bringing this upon her, but then he made himself stop. Caroline had wanted this, wanted to get away from her human life, wanted everything that being immortal would offer to her. She didn’t want to be a wife, a mother. She chose this, and all he could do was to respect it. He couldn’t know what the future would bring, and all he could do at the moment was to help Caroline get through her transition.

At that moment, her eyes opened and she was sitting up, looking wildly around herself. He sighed with relief. She’d be okay. She turned to look at him in the dimly lit room.

“Nik,” she murmured.

“Shh… It will be okay. I’ll get you blood. Everything will be okay,” he said, perhaps more to himself than to her. She nodded, squeezing her eyes shut, irritated even by the dim light. When she opened them, she was staring into his eyes.

“I love you too, Nik.”

***

Waking from the dead was less painful than she had thought. His blood had fixed her, and the only thing bothering her were her overly sensitive senses. It took her a moment to adjust to the lights. He was there with her. Just like she wanted. He had dressed her, and it made her smile. Then her final moments as a human came rushing back to her. He said it. He told her he loved her.

“I love you too, Nik,” she said, feeling like laughing and crying at the same time. He leaned closer to her, with the widest smile on his lips that she had ever seen. He placed a small kiss on her lips and then pulled her into a hug.

“I love you so much,” he whispered into her hair. Even though his gesture was sweet and non-sexual, Caroline felt herself being more attracted to him than ever before. She wanted him so badly. Her need for him had grown tenfold in a matter of hours. She breathed him in, pressing kisses on his throat. He chuckled at her actions.

“I know it can be overwhelming, but we should really get you fed.”

“Not yet,” she said. Her desire for him had suddenly switched to an overwhelming need to hold him close to him. She hugged him tighter against her. Tears were rolling down on her face.

“I’m so lucky I met you,” she cried. Everything she felt seemed so intense.

“No, I’m the lucky one, love,” he said and kissed away her tears.

“I just love you so much,” she said. And it was true. She felt like not having him close to her would physically hurt her. But an odd kind of hunger was creeping up her throat. Suddenly her attention was directed completely on something, something that smelt like… Caroline didn’t even know what it smelt like, but she was sure that it would be the best thing she had ever tasted. She jumped off the bed, Nik right behind her.

“What’s that smell?” she asked enthralled. His hand grabbed her wrist when the door opened slowly and a small woman stepped into the room.

“It’s her, you smell her blood,” Nik whispered to her ear. The smell was so compelling. But this was a human being. Just like she had been only hours ago.

“I can’t…” She wanted both step back and towards her at the same time. Her mind was telling her that it would not be right to feed from her, but the newly woken beast inside told her to go for it, to drain every drop of her. That made Caroline stop. She had sworn not to be the monster.

“You don’t have to feed directly from her, but you have to feed.” Caroline took a step back.

“It’s so wrong…”

“She isn’t compelled. She works for me, and gets paid very well to donate her blood every once in a while.” All Caroline could do was to stare at the woman. Then she stepped to Nik’s desk, produced a glass and a knife from her pocket.

“It’s quite all right, miss. This is the best job available. It pays well. I have two children. Two girls. I have to take care of them,” the maid said and slit her wrist open. The intoxicating smell of blood filled Caroline’s every thought and all reason left her mind. Only hunger remained. She tried to move towards the delicious smell, but couldn’t. Nik’s grip on her wrist was like steel. She couldn’t get out of it.

“Drink from the glass, love.” Caroline nodded, and he let go of her. She went to the glass, but as she neared the desk and the maid, the still bleeding wrist caught her attention. Her vision seemed to blur. All she could see was the pulsating blood. Before she could even make a conscious decision, her mouth was on her wrist, the sweet nectar filling her mouth.

It was divine. She had never tasted anything like it. As the blood hit her mouth, she felt them. Her fangs. She was a vampire. And she didn’t care if she would drain the poor mother of two. She couldn’t care less. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> AN: Sooo, any thoughts? That was actually the first smut scene I have ever written, so I hope it wasn’t tacky or something. I's like to hear your opinion on it.


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